Tuning quantum-classical correspondence of molecular systems in a cavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how the quantum-classical correspondence in molecular systems within a cavity can be tuned by adjusting the cavity-matter coupling strength, affecting the effective mass and dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces an acceleration gauge approach that reveals non-monotonic coupling effects and enables control over quantum and classical dynamics in cavity-molecule systems.

Findings

Effective decoupling at weak and strong coupling regimes

Renormalized mass increases with coupling strength

Potential to study quantum chaos and tunneling control

Abstract

We show that the correspondence between quantum and classical mechanics can be tuned by varying the coupling strength between the cavity modes and an atom or a molecule. In the acceleration gauge the cavity-matter system is represented by an effective Hamiltonian with a non-trivial coupling appearing in the potential, and a renormaized mass. Importantly, the acceleration-gauge coupling is non-monotonic with the strength cavity-matter interaction. As a result one obtain effective approximately decoupled field-matter dynamics for weak and strong interactions. In the weak coupling regime the effective mass is essentially the original mass. In contrast, the renormalized mass is increased as the interaction is increased. This results in acceleration gauge dynamics of atom/molecule with the original Hamiltonian and effective Planck's constant that is reduced when the interaction is increased. This approach might lead in particular to the possibility of studying the correspondence of "quantum-chaos" (quantum stochasticity) with classical chaos, as well as either enhancement or suppression of tunneling, by varying a controllable physical parameter. Physical realization of our findings is briefly discussed.