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Benchmarking quantum phase-space methods for near-resonant light propagation
Mojdeh S. Najafabadi, Joel F. Corney, Luis Sanchez Soto, Gerd Leuchs·February 19, 2026
Quantum PhysicsMathematical Physics
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Abstract
We study the dynamics of light interacting with a near-resonant atomic medium using the truncated Wigner and positive P phase-space representations. The atomic degrees of freedom are described using the Jordan-Schwinger mapping. The dynamics is first analyzed under unitary evolution and subsequently in the presence of an optical reservoir. While both approaches capture the main features of the light-matter dynamics, we find that the truncated Wigner approximation exhibits noticeable deviations for stronger interaction strengths and when reservoir-induced noise becomes significant.