Electron dynamics induced by quantum cat-state light

Abstract:We present an effective theory for describing electron dynamics driven by an optical external field in a Schrödinger's cat state. We show that the reduced electron density matrix evolves as an average over trajectories $\{\rho_\alpha\}$ weighted by the Sudarshan--Glauber $P$ distribution $P(\alpha)$ in the weak light--matter coupling regime. Each trajectory obeys an equation of motion, $\mathrm{i} \partial_t\rho_\alpha=\mathcal{H}_{\alpha} \rho_\alpha-\rho_\alpha\mathcal{H}_{\alpha}$, where an effective Hamiltonian $\mathcal{H}_{\alpha}$ becomes non-Hermitian due to quantum interference of light. The optical quantum interference is transferred to electrons through the asymmetric action between the ket and bra state vectors in $\rho_{\alpha}$. This non-Hermitian dynamics differs from the conventional one observed in open quantum systems, described by $\mathrm{i} \partial_t\rho=\mathcal{H}\rho-\rho \mathcal{H}^\dagger$, which has complex conjugation in the second term. We confirm that the reduced, trajectory-resolved effective theory agrees with full electron-photon simulations for the few-electron Dicke model, thereby validating the interferential non-Hermitian description in the weak-coupling regime.

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall); Optics (physics.optics)

arXiv:2501.16801 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2501.16801v2 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.16801 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Phys. Rev. A 114, L011102 (2026)

https://doi.org/10.1103/7vll-vh3l Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources

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