



01255nas a2200157   4500008004100000245006900041210006900110260001500179300001100194490000700205520078100212100002700993700002201020700001901042856003601061       2016                        eng d00aFlight of a heavy particle nonlinearly coupled to a quantum bath0 aFlight of a heavy particle nonlinearly coupled to a quantum bath  c2016/01/28  a0143090 v933 a  Fluctuation and dissipation are by-products of coupling to the `environment.'
The Caldeira-Leggett model, a successful paradigm of quantum Brownian motion,
views the environment as a collection of harmonic oscillators linearly coupled
to the system. However, symmetry considerations may forbid a linear coupling,
e.g. for a neutral particle in quantum electrodynamics. We argue that nonlinear
couplings can lead to a fundamentally different behavior. Specifically, we
consider a heavy particle quadratically coupled to quantum fluctuations of the
bath. In one dimension the particle undergoes anomalous diffusion, unfolding as
a power-law distribution in space, reminiscent of L\'{e}vy flights. We suggest
condensed matter analogs where similar effects may arise.
1 aMaghrebi, Mohammad, F.1 aKrüger, Matthias1 aKardar, Mehran  uhttp://arxiv.org/abs/1508.00582