# One-Parameter Gaussian State of Anharmonic Oscillator: Nonlinear Realization of Bogoliubov Transformation

## Abstract

We find a one-parameter Gaussian state for an anharmonic oscillator with quadratic and quartic terms, which depends on the energy expectation value. For the weak coupling constant, the Gaussian state is a squeezed state of the vacuum state. However, for the strong coupling constant, the Gaussian state represents a different kind of condensation of bosonic particles through a nonlinear Bogoliubov transformation of the vacuum state.

preprint: quant-ph/9902047  

Harmonic oscillator has been used to describe a non-interacting ideal bosonic gas. One of physically interesting quantum states is the Gaussian state. Recently we have found a one-parameter squeezed Gaussian state for a time-independent harmonic oscillator whose squeezing parameter is the energy expectation value . It was also shown there that even for a time-dependent harmonic oscillator this one-parameter Gaussian state is still the squeezed state of the vacuum state with the minimum uncertainty. This squeezed Gaussian state forms a condensation (squeezed vacuum) of bosonic particles, and represents a higher energy state.

On the other hand, anharmonic oscillator, as a $`(0+1)`$-dimensional toy model for a quantum field, describes a self-interacting bosonic gas. Therefore it would be physically interesting to have an analogous Gaussian state for the anharmonic oscillator. In this paper we find a one-parameter Gaussian state for the anharmonic oscillator whose parameter depends on the energy expectation value, and study the relation between the Gaussian state and the (approximate) vacuum state. It is found that for the weak coupling constant the one-parameter Gaussian state is a squeezed vacuum of the vacuum state, but for the strong coupling constant it can not be obtained from the vacuum state through a linear Bogoliubov transformation. That is, the Gaussian state for the strong coupling constant does not represent merely the squeezed vacuum, rather it exhibits a different kind of condensation of bosonic particles through a nonlinear Bogoliubov transformation.

We now wish to find the Gaussian state for an anharmonic oscillator with quadratic and quartic potential terms. This anharmonic oscillator has been frequently used as a toy model for the $`\mathrm{\Phi }^4`$-theory . From a field theoretical point of view, one of physically interesting quantum states is the Gaussian state, for it represents a resummation of loop diagrams such as daisies. Let us consider a model Hamiltonian of the form

$$\widehat{H}_{a.h.o.}=\frac{1}{2}\widehat{p}^2+\frac{\omega ^2}{2}\widehat{x}^2+\frac{\lambda }{4}\widehat{x}^4.$$
(1)   
It was shown in Ref.  that the Hamiltonian (1) has the following Gaussian state

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(x)=\left(\frac{1}{2\pi \chi ^2}\right)^{1/4}\mathrm{exp}\left[\left(\frac{1}{4\chi ^4}i\frac{\dot{\chi }}{2\chi }\right)x^2\right],$$
(2)   
where $`\chi `$ satisfies the nonlinear equation

$$\ddot{\chi }+\omega ^2\chi +3\lambda \chi ^3\frac{1}{4\chi ^3}=0.$$
(3)   
Eq. (3) can be easily integrated to yield

$$\frac{1}{2}\dot{\chi }^2+\frac{\omega ^2}{2}\chi ^2+\frac{3\lambda }{4}\chi ^4+\frac{1}{8\chi ^2}=ϵ,$$
(4)   
where $`ϵ`$ is a constant of motion. The $`ϵ`$ is nothing but the energy expectation value

$$\mathrm{\Psi }|\widehat{H}|\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{1}{2}\left[\dot{\chi }^2+\omega ^2\chi ^2+\frac{3\lambda }{2}\chi ^4+\frac{1}{4\chi ^2}\right]=ϵ.$$
(5)   
The solution to Eq. (4) can be found by interpreting Eq. (3) as describing a one-dimensional system of unit mass with an effective potential

$$V_{\mathrm{eff}.}=\frac{\omega ^2}{2}\chi ^2+\frac{3\lambda }{4}\chi ^4+\frac{1}{8\chi ^2}.$$
(6)   
The effective potential, though one-dimensional, has a centrifugal term $`\frac{1}{8\chi ^2}`$ from quantization in addition to the other classical potential terms. The energy expectation value has the minimum value at $`\chi ^2=\frac{1}{2\mathrm{\Omega }_G}`$:

$$ϵ_{\mathrm{min}.}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_G}{2}\frac{3\lambda }{16\mathrm{\Omega }_G^2},$$
(7)   
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_G`$ is determined from the gap equation 

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_G^2=\omega ^2+\frac{3\lambda }{2\mathrm{\Omega }_G}.$$
(8)   
For an energy above $`ϵ_{\mathrm{min}.}`$, there are two turning points $`\chi _1`$ and $`\chi _2`$. By setting $`y=\chi ^2`$, we integrate Eq. (4) by quadrature method

$$_{y_1}^y\frac{dy}{\sqrt{2ϵy\omega ^2y^2\frac{3\lambda }{2}y^3\frac{1}{4}}}=2t+\phi _0,$$
(9)   
where $`\phi _0`$ is an integration constant. The integrand has two positive roots $`y_2y_1>0`$ corresponding to physical turning points and an unphysical negative root $`y_3<0`$:

$$2ϵy\omega ^2y^2\frac{3\lambda }{2}y^3\frac{1}{4}=\frac{3\lambda }{2}(y_2y)(yy_1)(yy_3).$$
(10)   
By doing the integral (9), we find the solution 

$$F(\kappa ,p)=\sqrt{\frac{3\lambda }{2}(y_2y_3)}\left(t+\frac{\phi _0}{2}\right),$$
(11)   
where $`F(\kappa ,p)`$ is the first elliptic integral and

$$\kappa =\mathrm{arcsin}\left\{\sqrt{\frac{(y_2y_3)(yy_1)}{(y_2y_1)(yy_3)}}\right\},p=\sqrt{\frac{y_2y_1}{y_2y_3}}.$$
(12)   
We have thus shown that the Gaussian state (2) is the one-parameter state whose parameter is the energy expectation value. In order to find the meaning and relation of this one-parameter Gaussian state (2) with the (approximate) vacuum state, we shall compare it with that of a harmonic oscillator, which is relatively well understood.

We first consider the case of the harmonic oscillator with $`\lambda =0`$

$$\widehat{H}_{h.o.}=\frac{1}{2}\widehat{p}^2+\frac{\omega ^2}{2}\widehat{x}^2.$$
(13)   
Then one has $`p=0`$ in Eq. (12) and $`F(\kappa ,0)=\kappa `$ in Eq. (11), and the solution (11) reduced to

$$y=\chi ^2=\frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}+\frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}\sqrt{1\frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}\mathrm{cos}(2\omega t),$$
(14)   
where we have chosen a constant $`\phi _0=\frac{\pi }{\omega }`$. The connection between the vacuum (minimum energy) state and the one-parameter Gaussian state (2) with $`y=\chi ^2`$ from Eq. (14) can be manifestly shown in the Liouville-Neumann approach . Moreover, the Liouville-Neumann approach provides a better physical intuition. In this approach one looks for the following creation and annihilation operators 

$$\widehat{a}^{}(t)=i\left(u(t)\widehat{p}\dot{u}(t)\widehat{x}\right),\widehat{a}(t)=i\left(u^{}(t)\widehat{p}\dot{u}^{}(t)\widehat{x}\right),$$
(15)   
which satisfy the Liouville-Neumann equations

$$i\frac{}{t}\widehat{a}^{}(t)+[\widehat{a}^{}(t),\widehat{H}_{h.o.}]=0,i\frac{}{t}\widehat{a}(t)+[\widehat{a}(t),\widehat{H}_{h.o.}]=0,.$$
(16)   
The great advantage of this approach is that the exact quantum state of either time-independent or time-dependent harmonic oscillator is an eigenstate of such operators up to some time-dependent phase factor. From the fact that any functionals of $`\widehat{a}(t)`$ and $`\widehat{a}^{}(t)`$ also satisfy Eq. (16), it follows that the (number) eigenstate of $`\widehat{N}(t)=\widehat{a}^{}(t)\widehat{a}(t)`$ is an exact quantum state of the harmonic oscillator .

The operators (15) satisfy Eq. (16) when $`u(t)`$ is a complex solution to the classical equation of motion

$$\ddot{u}(t)+\omega ^2u(t)=0.$$
(17)   
One can make $`\widehat{a}(t)`$ and $`\widehat{a}(t)`$ the creation and annihilation operators by imposing the standard commutation relation $`[\widehat{a}(t),\widehat{a}^{}(t)]=1`$, which is the Wronskian condition

$$\dot{u}^{}(t)u(t)u^{}(t)\dot{u}(t)=i.$$
(18)   
The Gaussian state that is defined by $`\widehat{a}(t)|0=0`$ has the coordinate representation

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_u=\left(\frac{1}{2\pi u^{}(t)u(t)}\right)^{1/4}\mathrm{exp}\left[i\frac{\dot{u}^{}(t)}{2u^{}(t)}x^2\right].$$
(19)   
In fact, one can show the equivalence between Eq. (17) and the nonlinear equation (3) with $`\lambda =0`$, by expressing $`u(t)`$ in a polar form $`u(t)=\chi (t)e^{i\theta (t)}`$ and by writing Eq. (18) as $`\dot{\theta }(t)=\frac{1}{2\chi ^2(t)}`$, which is integrated to be $`\theta =\omega t`$. It should be noted that a solution with the particular positive frequency $`\omega `$,

$$u_0(t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\omega }}e^{i\omega t},$$
(20)   
provides the true vacuum state with the minimum energy. The vacuum state meets the selection rule of the minimum uncertainty . Eq. (17) being linear and $`u_0^{}(t)`$ another independent solution, any superposition of $`u_0(t)`$ and $`u_0^{}(t)`$ also constitutes a solution. We may parameterize such coefficients so that they satisfy the Wronskian condition (18):

$$u_\mathrm{r}(t)=\mathrm{cosh}(r)u_0(t)+\mathrm{sinh}(r)u_0^{}(t).$$
(21)   
By identifying $`\chi ^2=u_\mathrm{r}^{}u_\mathrm{r}`$ in Eq. (14), the squeezing parameter $`r`$ is found in terms of the energy as

$$\mathrm{cosh}(r)=\sqrt{\frac{ϵ}{\omega }+\frac{1}{2}},\mathrm{sinh}(r)=\sqrt{\frac{ϵ}{\omega }\frac{1}{2}}.$$
(22)   
The creation and annihilation operators defined in terms of $`u_\mathrm{r}(t)`$

$$\widehat{a}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)=i\left(u_\mathrm{r}(t)\widehat{p}\dot{u}_\mathrm{r}(t)\widehat{x}\right),\widehat{a}_\mathrm{r}(t)=i\left(u_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)\widehat{p}\dot{u}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)\widehat{x}\right),$$
(23)   
are related with those for the vacuum state defined in terms of $`u_0(t)`$ through the Bogoliubov transformation

$`\widehat{a}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{sinh}(r)\widehat{a}_0(t)+\mathrm{cosh}(r)\widehat{a}_0^{}(t),`$ (24)   
$`\widehat{a}_\mathrm{r}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{cosh}(r)\widehat{a}_0(t)\mathrm{sinh}(r)\widehat{a}_0^{}(t).`$ (25)   
Hence, the one-parameter Gaussian state for harmonic oscillator is the squeezed state (squeezed vacuum) of the true vacuum state that is annihilated by $`\widehat{a}_0(t)`$ and has $`r=0`$ .

We now turn to the case of the anharmonic oscillator $`(\lambda 0)`$. Years ago Rajagopal and Marshall found a coherent and Gaussian state for time-independent anharmonic oscillator with a polynomial potential , and recently one (SPK) of the authors used the Liouville-Neumann approach to find a similar coherent and Gaussian state for time-dependent anharmonic oscillator . The idea of Ref.  is to find the following operators

$$\widehat{A}^{}(t)=i\left(v(t)\widehat{p}\dot{v}(t)\widehat{x}\right),\widehat{A}(t)=i\left(v^{}(t)\widehat{p}\dot{v}^{}(t)\widehat{x}\right),$$
(26)   
which satisfy the Liouville-Neumann equations for the full Hamiltonian (1)

$$i\frac{}{t}\widehat{A}^{}(t)+[\widehat{A}^{}(t),\widehat{H}_{a.h.o.}]=0,i\frac{}{t}\widehat{A}(t)+[\widehat{A}(t),\widehat{H}_{a.h.o.}]=0.$$
(27)   
It was found that Eq. (27) is satisfied only when $`v(t)`$ is a complex solution to

$$\ddot{v}(t)+0(t)|\frac{\delta ^2}{\delta \widehat{x}^2}V(\widehat{x})|0(t)v(t)=0,$$
(28)   
where the expectation value is taken with respect to the state defined by $`\widehat{A}(t)|0(t)=0`$. For the Hamiltonian (1), Eq. (28) becomes

$$\ddot{v}(t)+\omega ^2v(t)+3\lambda \left(v^{}(t)v(t)\right)v(t)=0.$$
(29)   
It is worthy of noting that the same mean-field equation (29) can also be obtained by expressing the Hamiltonian (1) in terms of the operators in Eq. (26), by arraying it in a normal ordering, and by truncating it up to the quadratic terms

$`\widehat{H}_G`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\dot{v}^{}\dot{v}+\omega ^2v^{}v+3\lambda (v^{}v)^2\right]\left(\widehat{A}^{}\widehat{A}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{3\lambda }{4}}(v^{}v)^2`$ (31)   
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\dot{v}^2\dot{v}+\omega ^2v^2+3\lambda (v^{}v)v^2\right]\widehat{A}^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\dot{v}^2\dot{v}+\omega ^2u^2+3\lambda (v^{}v)v^2\right]\widehat{A}^2,`$   
and finally by solving Eq. (16) with the approximate Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_G`$. A particular solution to Eq. (29) with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_G`$ determined by the gap equation (8),

$$v_0(t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\mathrm{\Omega }_G}}e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_Gt},$$
(32)   
provides an approximate vacuum (minimum energy) state. As for the harmonic oscillator case, by setting $`v(t)=\chi (t)e^{i\theta (t)}`$ and using $`\dot{\theta }(t)=\frac{1}{2\chi ^2(t)}`$ from the commutation relation $`[\widehat{A}(t),\widehat{A}^{}(t)]=1`$, one can show that Eq. (29) becomes identically the nonlinear equation (3) with $`\lambda 0`$.

As a special case, we consider the weak coupling constant $`(\lambda \omega ^2)`$, and from now on compute all quantities to the linear order of $`\lambda `$. From the three roots approximately given by

$`y_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}}\left[1\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}}\right]{\displaystyle \frac{3\lambda }{16\omega ^6}}\left[16ϵ^2\omega ^2{\displaystyle \frac{16ϵ^23\omega ^2}{\sqrt{1\frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}}}\right]+𝒪(\lambda ^2),`$ (33)   
$`y_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}}\left[1+\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}}\right]{\displaystyle \frac{3\lambda }{16\omega ^6}}\left[16ϵ^2\omega ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{16ϵ^23\omega ^2}{\sqrt{1\frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}}}\right]+𝒪(\lambda ^2),`$ (34)   
$`y_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\omega ^2}{3\lambda }}{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6ϵ^2\lambda }{\omega ^6}}\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{16ϵ^2}}\right]+𝒪(\lambda ^2),`$ (35)   
the solution (11) is found to be

$`y=\chi ^2`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{9\lambda }{16\omega ^6}}\left(8ϵ^2\omega ^2\right)+𝒪(\lambda ^2)\right]`$ (36)   
$`+`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{\omega ^2}}\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{3\lambda }{16\omega ^6}}{\displaystyle \frac{16ϵ^23\omega ^2}{\sqrt{1\frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}}}+𝒪(\lambda ^2)\right]\mathrm{cos}(2\mathrm{\Omega }t),`$ (37)   
where

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\omega +\frac{3\lambda }{4\omega }\left[\frac{2ϵ}{\omega ^2}+\sqrt{1\frac{\omega ^2}{4ϵ^2}}\right]+𝒪(\lambda ^2).$$
(38)   
It should be remarked that near the minimum energy $`ϵ_{\mathrm{min}.}`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is equal to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_G`$ from the gap equation (8):

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\omega +\frac{3\lambda }{4\omega ^2}+𝒪(\lambda ^2)=\mathrm{\Omega }_G.$$
(39)   
This can be understood intuitively because near the minimum of potential the anharmonic oscillator is approximated by a harmonic potential with corrections from the quartic term. We are thus able to show the following linear superposition

$$v_\mathrm{r}(t)=\mathrm{cosh}(r)v_0(t)+\mathrm{sinh}(r)v_0^{}(t),$$
(40)   
where

$`\mathrm{cosh}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }y_2}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }(y_2y_1)^2}{8y_3}}}+\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }y_1}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }(y_2y_1)^2}{8y_3}}},`$ (41)   
$`\mathrm{sinh}(r)`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }y_2}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }(y_2y_1)^2}{8y_3}}}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }y_1}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }(y_2y_1)^2}{8y_3}}}.`$ (42)   
Hence, to the linear order of the coupling constant (weak coupling limit), the Bogoliubov transformation between $`\widehat{A}_\mathrm{r}(t),\widehat{A}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)`$ and $`\widehat{A}_0(t),\widehat{A}_0^{}(t)`$ holds

$`\widehat{A}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{sinh}(r)\widehat{A}_0(t)+\mathrm{cosh}(r)\widehat{A}_0^{}(t),`$ (43)   
$`\widehat{A}_\mathrm{r}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{cosh}(r)\widehat{A}_0(t)\mathrm{sinh}(r)\widehat{A}_0^{}(t),`$ (44)   
where

$$\widehat{A}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)=i\left(v_\mathrm{r}(t)\widehat{p}\dot{v}_\mathrm{r}(t)\widehat{x}\right),\widehat{A}_\mathrm{r}(t)=i\left(v_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)\widehat{p}\dot{v}_\mathrm{r}^{}(t)\widehat{x}\right).$$
(45)   
Therefore, one-parameter Gaussian state for the weak coupling constant is the squeezed vacuum of the Gaussian state with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_G`$.

In summary, we have found a one-parameter (energy expectation value) dependent Gaussian state for a quartic anharmonic oscillator. This Gaussian state is not in general a squeezed vacuum of the vacuum state through Bogoliubov transformation. This fact is in strong contrast with the harmonic oscillator case where any Gaussian state is always a squeezed state of the true vacuum. Only for the weak coupling constant, this Gaussian state is the squeezed state of the vacuum state. However, for the strong coupling constant, one can not obtain the Gaussian state through a linear Bogoliubov transformation of the vacuum state. The one-parameter Gaussian state with an energy much higher than the vacuum energy represents a different kind of condensation of bosonic particles in a nonlinear way. Though not shown explicitly in this paper, the operator formalism for the nonlinear transformation between the vacuum state and the other Gaussian states would be interesting and and will be addressed in a future publication.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank Dr. Dongsu Bak, Prof. Sung Ku Kim, Prof. Kwang-Sup Soh, and Prof. Jae Hyung Yee for many useful discussions and comments. This work was supported by the Non-Directed Research Fund, Korea Research Foundation, 1997.