The quantum jump method, also known as the Monte Carlo wave function (MCWF) is a technique in computational physics used for simulating open quantum systems and quantum dissipation. The quantum jump method was developed by Dalibard, Castin and Mølmer at a similar time to the similar method known as Quantum Trajectory Theory developed by Carmichael. Other contemporaneous works on wave-function-based Monte Carlo approaches to open quantum systems include those of Dum, Zoller and Ritsch and Hegerfeldt and Wilser.[1][2]
Method
The quantum jump method is an approach which is much like the master-equation treatment except that it operates on the wave function rather than using a density matrix approach. The main component of this method is evolving the system's wave function in time with a pseudo-Hamiltonian; where at each time step, a quantum jump (discontinuous change) may take place with some probability. The calculated system state as a function of time is known as a quantum trajectory, and the desired density matrix as a function of time may be calculated by averaging over many simulated trajectories. For a Hilbert space of dimension N, the number of wave function components is equal to N while the number of density matrix components is equal to N2. Consequently, for certain problems the quantum jump method offers a performance advantage over direct master-equation approaches.[1]
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External links
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