Uncertainty Relations in the Madelung Picture Including a Dissipative Environment

In a recent paper, we have shown how in Madelung's hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics, the uncertainties are related to the phase and amplitude of the complex wave function. Now we include a dissipative environment via a nonlinear modified Schrödinger equation. The effect of the environment is described by a complex logarithmic nonlinearity that vanishes on average. Nevertheless, there are various changes in the dynamics of the uncertainties originating from the nonlinear term. Again, this is illustrated explicitly using generalized coherent states as examples. With particular focus on the quantum mechanical contribution to the energy and the uncertainty product, connections can be made with the thermodynamic properties of the environment.

Dynamical invariant formalism of shortcuts to adiabaticity

We give a pedagogical introduction to dynamical invariant formalism of shortcuts to adiabaticity. For a given operator form of the Hamiltonian with undetermined coefficients, the dynamical invariant is introduced to design the coefficients. We discuss how the method allows us to mimic adiabatic dynamics and describe a relation to the counterdiabatic formalism. The equation for the dynamical invariant takes a familiar form and is often used in various fields of physics. We introduce examples of Lax pair, quantum brachistochrone and flow equation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Shortcuts to adiabaticity: theoretical, experimental and interdisciplinary perspectives'.