Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 23, 2025

Gradient Echo Quantum Memory in Warm Atomic Vapor
Published on: November 11, 2013
Quantum evolution represented by Brownian motion
1College of Chemistry and Center for Advanced Quantum Studies, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Abstract:
We propose a stochastic Schrödinger equation in which the momentum is coupled to a white Gaussian noise. In the stochastic representation, the kinetic energy representing the self-interaction of momentum is reduced to a linear term of momentum. As such, the quantum evolution operator factorizes into two contributions due to the momentum and the potential, respectively. The exact quantum propagator thereby becomes an expectation of the stochastic one in which the amplitude results from the potential with a fluctuating position: The particle moves with a constant velocity, subjected to a complex Brownian motion. We demonstrate that the stochastic Schrödinger equation can be feasibly used to derive the quantum propagators for the linear potential and the harmonic oscillator system. Novel semiclassical and other approximations may be developed from the new representation of quantum mechanics.
Related Concept Videos
The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
The de Broglie Wavelength
The Bohr Model
Equilibrium Conditions for a Particle
To understand the concept of equilibrium, let us first consider the forces acting on an object. When different forces act on an object, they can...
The Pauli Exclusion Principle
Entropy Change in Reversible Processes
The statement can be further generalized to prove that entropy is a state function. Take a cyclic process between any two points on a p-V diagram.

