Schwinger–Keldysh Path Integral Formalism for a Quenched Quantum Inverted Oscillator

Abstract

In this work, we study the time-dependent behavior of quantum correlations of a system of an inverted oscillator governed by out-of-equilibrium dynamics using the well-known Schwinger–Keldysh formalism in the presence of quantum mechanical quench. Considering a generalized structure of a time-dependent Hamiltonian for an inverted oscillator system, we use the invariant operator method to obtain its eigenstate and continuous energy eigenvalues. Using the expression for the eigenstate, we further derive the most general expression for the generating function as well as the out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) for the given system using this formalism. Further, considering the time-dependent coupling and frequency of the quantum inverted oscillator characterized by quench parameters, we comment on the dynamical behavior, specifically the early, intermediate and late time-dependent features of the OTOC for the quenched quantum inverted oscillator. Next, we study a specific case, where the system of an inverted oscillator exhibits chaotic behavior by computing the quantum Lyapunov exponent from the time-dependent behavior of OTOCs in the presence of the given quench profile. © 2024 by the authors.