Relative purity, speed of fluctuations, and bounds on equilibration times

Abstract

We discuss the local equilibration of closed systems using the relative purity, a paradigmatic information-theoretic distinguishability measure that finds applications ranging from quantum metrology to quantum speed limits. First we obtain an upper bound on the average size of the fluctuations on the relative purity: it depends on the effective dimension resembling the bound obtained with the trace distance. Second, we investigate the dynamics of relative purity and its rate of change as a probe of the speed of fluctuations around the equilibrium. In turn, such speed captures the notion of how fast some nonequilibrium state approaches the steady state under the local nonunitary dynamics, somehow giving the information of the quantum speed limit towards the equilibration. We show that the size of fluctuations depends on the quantum coherences of the initial state with respect to the eigenbasis of the Hamiltonian, also addressing the role played by the correlations between system and reservoir into the averaged speed. Finally, we have derived a family of lower bounds on the time of evolution between these states, thus obtaining an estimate for the equilibration time at the local level. These results could be of interest to the subjects of equilibration, quantum speed limits, and also quantum metrology.