Distributing memory effects in an open two-qubit system

Abstract

We introduce a method to distribute memory effects among different subspaces of an open two-qubit system's state space. Within the linear optical framework, our system of interest is the polarization of two photons, while the environment consists of their frequency degrees of freedom. By exploiting initially correlated frequency distributions and initial frequency-dependent phase factors, we are able to control all the four decoherence functions for polarization---corresponding to different open-system subspace divisions---almost independently of each other. Hence, our results demonstrate how, in a multipartite dephasing system, Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics can be arbitrarily divided between the subsystems, giving rise to the concept of memory partitions. We also discuss further implications the results have, e.g., on the dynamics of purity and entropy within the two-qubit system.