Time and classical equations of motion from quantum entanglement via the Page and Wootters mechanism with generalized coherent states.

We draw a picture of physical systems that allows us to recognize what "time" is by requiring consistency with the way that time enters the fundamental laws of Physics. Elements of the picture are two non-interacting and yet entangled quantum systems, one of which acting as a clock. The setting is based on the Page and Wootters mechanism, with tools from large-N quantum approaches. Starting from an overall quantum description, we first take the classical limit of the clock only, and then of the clock and the evolving system altogether; we thus derive the Schrödinger equation in the first case, and the Hamilton equations of motion in the second. This work shows that there is not a "quantum time", possibly opposed to a "classical" one; there is only one time, and it is a manifestation of entanglement.

Quantum Measurement Cooling.

Invasiveness of quantum measurements is a genuinely quantum mechanical feature that is not necessarily detrimental: Here we show how quantum measurements can be used to fuel a cooling engine. We illustrate quantum measurement cooling (QMC) by means of a prototypical two-stroke two-qubit engine which interacts with a measurement apparatus and two heat reservoirs at different temperatures. We show that feedback control is not necessary for operation while entanglement must be present in the measurement projectors. We quantify the probability that QMC occurs when the measurement basis is chosen randomly, and find that it can be very large as compared to the probability of extracting energy (heat engine operation), while remaining always smaller than the most useless operation, namely, dumping heat in both baths. These results show that QMC can be very robust to experimental noise. A possible low-temperature solid-state implementation that integrates circuit QED technology with circuit quantum thermodynamics technology is presented.

Parametric representation of open quantum systems and cross-over from quantum to classical environment.

The behavior of most physical systems is affected by their natural surroundings. A quantum system with an environment is referred to as open, and its study varies according to the classical or quantum description adopted for the environment. We propose an approach to open quantum systems that allows us to follow the cross-over from quantum to classical environments; to achieve this, we devise an exact parametric representation of the principal system, based on generalized coherent states for the environment. The method is applied to the s = 1/2 Heisenberg star with frustration, where the quantum character of the environment varies with the couplings entering the Hamiltonian H. We find that when the star is in an eigenstate of H, the central spin behaves as if it were in an effective magnetic field, pointing in the direction set by the environmental coherent-state angle variables (θ, ϕ), and broadened according to their quantum probability distribution. Such distribution is independent of ϕ, whereas as a function of θ is seen to get narrower as the quantum character of the environment is reduced, collapsing into a Dirac-δ function in the classical limit. In such limit, because ϕ is left undetermined, the Von Neumann entropy of the central spin remains finite; in fact, it is equal to the entanglement of the original fully quantum model, a result that establishes a relation between this latter quantity and the Berry phase characterizing the dynamics of the central spin in the effective magnetic field.

Reentrant enhancement of quantum fluctuations for symmetric environmental coupling.

The system-plus-reservoir (SPR) model is the most common and effective approach to study quantum dissipative effects. Indeed, it makes quantization possible by considering the whole energy-conserving system, while the reservoir's degrees of freedom, assumed to be harmonic, can be traced out by the path-integral technique, leading to a formulation that only includes the system of interest. In the standard SPR model the environment is only coupled with the system's coordinate and turns out to quench its quantum fluctuations. However, there are physical systems coupled with an environment whose "coordinates" and "momenta" can be completely interchangeable (e.g., magnets), so an SPR coupling must symmetrically affect both canonical variables. In this paper such a general environmental coupling is studied in the case of a harmonic oscillator. It is found that quantum fluctuations are generally enhanced by environmental coupling with an unexpected nonmonotonic behavior. This leads one to speculate about the possibility that spin-lattice coupling could drive the two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet to reach its quantum-critical point.

Dissipation-driven phase transition in two-dimensional Josephson arrays.

We analyze the interplay of dissipative and quantum effects in the proximity of a quantum phase transition. The prototypical system is a resistively shunted two-dimensional Josephson junction array, studied by means of an advanced Fourier path-integral Monte Carlo algorithm. The reentrant superconducting-to-normal phase transition driven by quantum fluctuations, recently discovered in the limit of infinite shunt resistance, persists for moderate dissipation strength but disappears in the limit of small resistance. For large quantum coupling our numerical results show that, beyond a critical dissipation strength, the superconducting phase is always stabilized at sufficiently low temperature. Our phase diagram explains recent experimental findings.

Reentrant behavior of the phase stiffness in Josephson junction arrays.

The phase diagram of a 2D Josephson junction array with large substrate resistance, described by a quantum XY model, is studied by means of Fourier path-integral Monte Carlo. A genuine Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition is found up to a threshold value g( small star, filled ) of the quantum coupling, beyond which no phase coherence is established. Slightly below g( small star, filled ) the phase stiffness shows a reentrant behavior with temperature, in connection with a low-temperature disappearance of the superconducting phase, driven by strong nonlinear quantum fluctuations.

Detection of XY behavior in weakly anisotropic quantum antiferromagnets on the square lattice.

We consider the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice with S=1/2 and very weak easy-plane exchange anisotropy; by means of the quantum Monte Carlo method, based on the continuous-time loop algorithm, we find that the thermodynamics of the model is highly sensitive to the presence of tiny anisotropies and is characterized by a crossover between isotropic and planar behavior. We discuss the mechanism underlying the crossover phenomenon and show that it occurs at a temperature which is characteristic of the model. The expected Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition is observed below the crossover: a finite range of temperatures consequently opens for experimental detection of noncritical 2D XY behavior. Direct comparison is made with uniform susceptibility data relative to the S=1/2 layered antiferromagnet Sr2CuO2Cl2.