Probing topological states through the exact non-Markovian decoherence dynamics of a spin coupled to a spin bath in the real-time domain

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the decoherence dynamics of a probing spin coupled to a spin bath, where the spin bath is given by a controllable 1D transverse-field Ising chain. The 1D transverse-field Ising chain with free-ends boundary condition is equivalent to a modified Kitaev model with non-local Majorana bound states in its topological phase. We find that the probing spin non-Markovian decoherence dynamics can manifest the topological structure of the spin chain. By controlling the external magnetic field on the Ising chain, we find the close relationships between the quantum phase transitions, the topological edge states, and the non-Markovian dynamics in real-time domain. We also investigate the corresponding quantum entanglement dynamics in this topological system.