DYNAMICAL INVARIANTS FOR TIME-EVOLUTION OF OPEN QUANTUM-SYSTEMS IN FINITE DIMENSIONS

Various equivalent representations of dynamical invariants (or constants of motion) are derived for N-level systems in mixed states with particular emphasis on so-called coherence vector invariants. They appear as certain homogeneous forms in the real solutions of the von Neumann equation with coefficients given by multilinear forms in the completely symmetric structure constants of the Lie-algebra of SU(N). The treatment is motivated by the close analogy between Lax pairs for classical dynamical systems and pairs given by density and Hamilton operators. In both cases the underlying mathematical structure is essentially determined by the properties of symmetric functions. However, in the quantum case more theorems of general validity can be derived due to the peculiar properties of density operators. In particular, the maximum number of functionally independent invariants in relation to the spectral properties is obtained, as well as bounds on their order of magnitude, the latter from an extremal property analysis. From group-theoretical methods a complete classification of all possibilities of completely incoherent state dynamics is deduced. As a by-product a simple algorithm for the explicit determination of all (N - 1)-dimensional irreducible representation matrices of the symmetric group S(N) and an associated construction of hyperpolyhedra is worked out. Finally, the importance of invariants is stressed for the control of numerical accuracy in large-scale computations in very high dimensions which, after taking partial traces, can be used for the description of irreversible processes. In summary, the results will be of practical relevance for applications to problems of short-time dynamics in molecular laser spectroscopy, quantum optics and magnetic resonance.