Quantum Friction: Cooling Quantum Systems with Unitary Time Evolution

Aurel Bulgac; Gabriel Wlaz{\l}owski; Kenneth J. Roche; Michael McNeil Forbes

RECORD

Quantum Friction: Cooling Quantum Systems with Unitary Time Evolution

Aurel Bulgac, Michael McNeil Forbes, Kenneth J. Roche, Gabriel Wlaz{l}owski

Nuclear Theory · Submitted 29 May 2013

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim In addition to providing an efficient way to simulate quantum dissipation and non-equilibrium dynamics, local quantum friction coupled with adiabatic state preparation significantly speeds up many-body simulations, making the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation significantly simpler than the solution of its stationary counterpart.

how it is stated · asserted 0.99 read the record →

Comment (0) Read on arXiv ↗

Cite ▾

arXiv ID1305.6891 (version 1)

Pith IDP6LRSRKF, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationAurel Bulgac, Gabriel Wlaz{\l}owski, Kenneth J. Roche, Michael McNeil Forbes. "Quantum Friction: Cooling Quantum Systems with Unitary Time Evolution." arXiv:1305.6891 (2013). https://pith.science/paper/P6LRSRKF

Claim paper

The compiled record

The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

Open the compiled record

Compiled by classifier-1.13-20260917 via OpenRouter, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 3,122 input tokens, $0.0001 reported.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.10 · states limitation 0.13 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.14 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.09 · compares with prior results 0.90 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v1. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

We introduce a type of quantum dissipation -- local quantum friction -- by adding to the Hamiltonian a local potential that breaks time-reversal invariance so as to cool the system. Unlike the Kossakowski-Lindblad master equation, local quantum friction directly effects unitary evolution of the wavefunctions rather than the density matrix: it may thus be used to cool fermionic many-body systems with thousands of wavefunctions that must remain orthogonal. In addition to providing an efficient way to simulate quantum dissipation and non-equilibrium dynamics, local quantum friction coupled with adiabatic state preparation significantly speeds up many-body simulations, making the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation significantly simpler than the solution of its stationary counterpart.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	We introduce a type of quantum dissipation -- local quantum friction -- by adding to the Hamiltonian a local potential that breaks time-reversal invariance so as to cool the system.	contribution 0.95	0.90	0.44	asserted 1.00
s1	Unlike the Kossakowski-Lindblad master equation, local quantum friction directly effects unitary evolution of the wavefunctions rather than the density matrix: it may thus be used to cool fermionic many-body systems with thousands of wavefunctions that must remain orthogonal.	contribution 0.53	0.41	0.22	hedged possibility 0.86
s2	In addition to providing an efficient way to simulate quantum dissipation and non-equilibrium dynamics, local quantum friction coupled with adiabatic state preparation significantly speeds up many-body simulations, making the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation significantly simpler than the solution of its stationary counterpart.	result 0.48	0.66	0.30	asserted 0.99

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: method or tool 1.00 · evidence from argument 0.58.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read

arXiv listing abstract v1

not examined

full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
relations to other papers

levels run

P abstract

not run

S sections
T body sentences
C citations
R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

We introduce a type of quantum dissipation -- local quantum friction -- by adding to the Hamiltonian a local potential that breaks time-reversal invariance so as to cool the system. Unlike the Kossakowski-Lindblad master equation, local quantum friction directly effects unitary evolution of the wavefunctions rather than the density matrix: it may thus be used to cool fermionic many-body systems with thousands of wavefunctions that must remain orthogonal. In addition to providing an efficient way to simulate quantum dissipation and non-equilibrium dynamics, local quantum friction coupled with adiabatic state preparation significantly speeds up many-body simulations, making the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation significantly simpler than the solution of its stationary counterpart.

Human review

How Pith checks papers → · Full audit of this paper →

References

How the literature uses it

6 arXiv papers cite this in 12 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 6 sentences without a confident label

Builds on it 1 paper

This was the idea behind the LQF algorithm [ref] , which we extend here to the pairing channel.

Local Quantum Cooling for Large Fermi Systems with Pairing · Introduction. · 1.00

Uses its method or tool 2 papers

Instead of solving ASLDA equations in 3D, which is prohibitively expensive, we followed a different strategy presented in [ref] .

Suppressed solitonic cascade in spin-imbalanced superfluid Fermi gas · Initial state preparation · 1.00
The adiabatic state preparation can be significantly accelerated by introducing a “quantum friction” term to remove phonon noise [ref] .

Strength of the Vortex-Pinning Interaction from Real-Time Dynamics · Introduction · 0.92

Cites it as support 1 paper

The term $γ[n]ṅ∝- ∇·p(r,t)$, per continuity equation [ref] , plays the role of “quantum friction”, in which the “friction coefficient” $γ[n]$ can depend on the number density and/or its gradient, etc. and thus it can simulate volume and/or surface "friction." In the presence of this “quantum friction” term alone $Ė_tot(t)≤0$ and $lim_t→∞ v(r,t)= 0$ [ref] , similarly to the classical Langevin equation.

Unitary evolution with fluctuations and dissipation · Introduction · 0.96

Cites it as background 1 paper

The effects of a cooling friction during switching have been studied previously [ref] .

Dynamics of one-dimensional correlated nuclear systems within non-equilibrium Green's function theory · Preparing finite correlated nuclear systems · 0.91

What it cites · 12 sentences without a confident label

Uses the method or tool of 4 papers

In the final example, we demonstrate local quantum friction applied to a large-scale TDDFT simulation modeling the unitary Fermi gas with the TDSLDA [ref] .

The Unitary Fermi Gas: From Monte Carlo to Density Functionals · Introduction · 0.83
In the final example, we demonstrate local quantum friction applied to a large-scale TDDFT simulation modeling the unitary Fermi gas with the TDSLDA [ref] .

Quantum Shock Waves and Domain Walls in the Real-Time Dynamics of a Superfluid Unitary Fermi Gas · Introduction · 0.83
In the final example, we demonstrate local quantum friction applied to a large-scale TDDFT simulation modeling the unitary Fermi gas with the TDSLDA [ref] .

Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory and the Real-Time Dynamics of Fermi Superfluids · Introduction · 0.83

Cites as background 1 paper

DFT and its time-dependent extension TDDFT, see e.g. [ref] , provide a unified approach to study both structure and reactions (dynamics).

Laser-driven nonlinear cluster dynamics · Introduction · 0.93

Discussion

Know something about this paper? Leave a comment, or highlight any passage above to comment on it.