General Quantum Operations Research Articles

Quantum Software Encompasses Classical Software: Density Matrix from the Laplacian

It is widely understood that quantum computing — quantum gates upon qubits — is the general case, encompassing computing by classical means, viz. Boolean logic upon classical bits. It also seems reasonable that Quantum Software should encompass Classical Software. However, to accept such a statement regarding software, the feeling that it seems reasonable is not enough. One needs clear-cut definitions and formal conclusions. This is exactly the purpose of this paper. Previously, we have represented Classical Software by the Laplacian Matrix. More recently, we have shown that Quantum Software is faithfully represented by Density Matrices. It turns out that a Laplacian Matrix normalized by the Laplacian Trace easily obtains a Density Matrix. This opens the horizons for Quantum Software operations — such as unitary and reversible evolution — not naturally available with the classical Laplacian. This paper provides the necessary definitions and conclusions, illustrating the more general Quantum operations with a relevant case study, playing the double role of both classical and quantum software.

Relativistic Consistency of Nonlocal Quantum Correlations.

What guarantees the "peaceful coexistence" of quantum nonlocality and special relativity? The tension arises because entanglement leads to locally inexplicable correlations between distant events that have no absolute temporal order in relativistic spacetime. This paper identifies a relativistic consistency condition that is weaker than Bell locality but stronger than the no-signaling condition meant to exclude superluminal communication. While justifications for the no-signaling condition often rely on anthropocentric arguments, relativistic consistency is simply the requirement that joint outcome distributions for spacelike separated measurements (or measurement-like processes) must be independent of their temporal order. This is necessary to obtain consistent statistical predictions across different Lorentz frames. We first consider ideal quantum measurements, derive the relevant consistency condition on the level of probability distributions, and show that it implies no-signaling (but not vice versa). We then extend the results to general quantum operations and derive corresponding operator conditions. This will allow us to clarify the relationships between relativistic consistency, no-signaling, and local commutativity. We argue that relativistic consistency is the basic physical principle that ensures the compatibility of quantum statistics and relativistic spacetime structure, while no-signaling and local commutativity can be justified on this basis.

Recovering an accurate Lindblad equation from the Bloch-Redfield equation for general open quantum systems

Recovering an accurate Lindblad equation from the Bloch-Redfield equation for general open quantum systems

Characterization of Quantum Frequency Processors

Frequency-bin qubits possess unique synergies with wavelength-multiplexed lightwave communications, suggesting valuable opportunities for quantum networking with the existing fiber-optic infrastructure. Although the coherent manipulation of frequency-bin states requires highly controllable multi-spectral-mode interference, the quantum frequency processor (QFP) provides a scalable path for gate synthesis leveraging standard telecom components. Here we summarize the state of the art in experimental QFP characterization. Distinguishing between physically motivated “open box” approaches that treat the QFP as a multiport interferometer, and “black box” approaches that view the QFP as a general quantum operation, we highlight the assumptions and results of multiple techniques, including quantum process tomography of a tunable beamsplitter—to our knowledge the first full process tomography of any frequency-bin operation. Our findings should inform future characterization efforts as the QFP increasingly moves beyond proof-of-principle tabletop demonstrations toward integrated devices and deployed quantum networking experiments.

Quantum ergotropy and quantum feedback control.

We study the energy extraction from and charging to a finite-dimensional quantum system by general quantum operations. We prove that the changes in energy induced by unital quantum operations are limited by the ergotropy and charging bounds for unitary quantum operations. This implies that, in order to break the ergotropy bound for unitary quantum operations, one needs to perform a quantum operation with feedback control. We also show that the ergotropy bound for unital quantum operations, applied to initial thermal equilibrium states, is tighter than the inequality representing the standard second law of thermodynamics without feedback control.

Thermal devices powered by generalized measurements with indefinite causal order

A quantum-controlled device may produce a scenario in which two general quantum operations can be performed in such a way that it is not possible to associate a definite order for the operation's application. Such an indefinite causal order can be explored to produce nontrivial effects in quantum thermal devices. We investigate a measurement-powered thermal device that consists of generalized measurement channels with adjustable intensity parameters, where energy is exchanged with the apparatus in the form of work or heat. The measurement-based device can operate as a heat engine, a thermal accelerator, or a refrigerator, according to a measurement intensity setting. By employing a quantum switch of two measurement channels, we explore a thermal device fueled by an indefinite causal order. We also discuss how a coherent control over an indefinite causal order structure can change the operating regimes of the measurement-powered thermal device to produce an advantage when compared to a scenario with an incoherent control of the order switch.

Spin-phonon coupling and magnetic relaxation in single-molecule magnets.

Electron-phonon coupling is important in many physical phenomena, e.g. photosynthesis, catalysis and quantum information processing, but its impacts are difficult to grasp on the microscopic level. One area attracting wide interest is that of single-molecule magnets, which is motivated by searching for the ultimate limit in the miniaturisation of binary data storage media. The utility of a molecule to store magnetic information is quantified by the timescale of its magnetic reversal processes, also known as magnetic relaxation, which is limited by spin-phonon coupling. Several recent accomplishments of synthetic organometallic chemistry have led to the observation of molecular magnetic memory effects at temperatures above that of liquid nitrogen. These discoveries have highlighted how far chemical design strategies for maximising magnetic anisotropy have come, but have also highlighted the need to characterise the complex interplay between phonons and molecular spin states. The crucial step is to make a link between magnetic relaxation and chemical motifs, and so be able to produce design criteria to extend molecular magnetic memory. The basic physics associated with spin-phonon coupling and magnetic relaxation was outlined in the early 20th century using perturbation theory, and has more recently been recast in the form of a general open quantum systems formalism and tackled with different levels of approximations. It is the purpose of this Tutorial Review to introduce the topics of phonons, molecular spin-phonon coupling, and magnetic relaxation, and to outline the relevant theories in connection with both the traditional perturbative texts and the more modern open quantum systems methods.

Quantifying Non-Markovianity in Open Quantum Dynamics

Characterization of non-Markovian open quantum dynamics is both of theoretical and practical relevance. In a seminal work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 040405 (2018)], a necessary and sufficient quantum Markov condition is proposed, with a clear operational interpretation and correspondence with the classical limit. Here we propose two non-Markovianity measures for general open quantum dynamics, which are fully reconciled with the Markovian limit and can be efficiently calculated based on the multi-time quantum measurements of the system. A heuristic algorithm for reconstructing the underlying open quantum dynamics is proposed, whose complexity is directly related to the proposed non-Markovianity measures. The non-Markovianity measures and the reconstruction algorithm are demonstrated with numerical examples, together with a careful reexamination of the non-Markovianity in quantum dephasing dynamics.

Unconventional mechanism of virtual-state population through dissipation

Virtual states are a central concept in quantum mechanics. By definition, the probability of finding a quantum system in a virtual state should be vanishingly small at all times. In contrast to this notion, we report a phenomenon occurring in open quantum systems by which virtual states can acquire a sizable population in the long time limit, even if they are not directly coupled to any dissipative channel. This means that the situation where the virtual state remains unpopulated can be metastable. We describe this effect by introducing a two-step adiabiatic elimination method, that we termed hierarchical adiabatic elimination, which allows one to obtain analytical expressions of the timescale of metastability in general open quantum systems. We show how these results can be relevant for practical questions such as the generation of stable and metastable entangled states in dissipative systems of interacting qubits.

Completeness of Graphical Languages for Mixed State Quantum Mechanics

There exist several graphical languages for quantum information processing, like quantum circuits, ZX-calculus, ZW-calculus, and so on. Each of these languages forms a †-symmetric monoidal category (†-SMC) and comes with an interpretation functor to the †-SMC of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. In recent years, one of the main achievements of the categorical approach to quantum mechanics has been to provide several equational theories for most of these graphical languages, making them complete for various fragments of pure quantum mechanics. We address the question of how to extend these languages beyond pure quantum mechanics to reason about mixed states and general quantum operations, i.e., completely positive maps. Intuitively, such an extension relies on the axiomatisation of a discard map that allows one to get rid of a quantum system, an operation that is not allowed in pure quantum mechanics. We introduce a new construction, the discard construction , which transforms any †-symmetric monoidal category into a symmetric monoidal category equipped with a discard map. Roughly speaking this construction consists in making any isometry causal. Using this construction, we provide an extension for several graphical languages that we prove to be complete for general quantum operations. However, this construction fails for some fringe cases like Clifford+T quantum mechanics, as the category does not have enough isometries.

Information leak and incompatibility of physical context: A modified approach

A beautiful idea about the incompatibility of physical context (IPC) was introduced in Phys. Rev. A 102, 050201(R) (2020). Here, a context is defined as a set of a quantum state and two sharp rank-one measurements, and the incompatibility of physical context is defined as the leakage of information while implementing those two measurements successively in that quantum state. In this work, we show the limitations in their approach. The three primary limitations are that (i) their approach is not generalized for positive operator-valued measurements; (ii) they restrict information theoretic agents Alice, Eve, and Bob to specific quantum operations and do not consider most general quantum operations, i.e., quantum instruments; and (iii) their measure of IPC can take negative values in specific cases in a more general scenario, which implies the limitation of their information measure. Thereby, we have introduced a generalization and modification to their approach in a more general and convenient way, such that this idea is well defined for generic measurements, without these limitations. We also present a comparison of the measure of the IPC through their and our methods. Lastly, we show, how the IPC reduces in the presence of memory using our modification, which further validates our approach.

Quantum operations in an information theory for fermions

A reasonable quantum information theory for fermions must respect the parity super-selection rule to comply with the special theory of relativity and the no-signaling principle. This rule restricts the possibility of any quantum state to have a superposition between even and odd parity fermionic states. It thereby characterizes the set of physically allowed fermionic quantum states. Here we introduce the physically allowed quantum operations, in congruence with the parity super-selection rule, that map the set of allowed fermionic states onto itself. We first introduce unitary and projective measurement operations of the fermionic states. We further extend the formalism to general quantum operations in the forms of Stinespring dilation, operator-sum representation, and axiomatic completely-positive-trace-preserving maps. We explicitly show the equivalence between these three representations of fermionic quantum operations. We discuss the possible implications of our results in characterization of correlations in fermionic systems.

Nonequilibrium open quantum systems with multiple bosonic and fermionic environments: A hierarchical equations of motion approach

We present a hierarchical equations of motion approach, which allows a numerically exact simulation of nonequilibrium transport in general open quantum systems involving multiple macroscopic bosonic and fermionic environments. The performance of the method is demonstrated for a model of a nanosystem, which involves interacting electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom and is coupled to fermionic and bosonic baths. The results show the intricate interplay of electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom in this nonequilibrium transport scenario for both voltage and thermally driven transport processes. Furthermore, the use of importance criteria to improve the efficiency of the method is discussed.

Temperature-controlled open-quantum-system dynamics using a time-dependent variational method

Dirac-Frenkel variational method with Davydov D2 trial wavefunction is extended by introducing a thermalization algorithm and applied to simulate dynamics of a general open quantum system. The algorithm allows to control temperature variations of a harmonic finite size bath, when in contact with the quantum system. Thermalization of the bath vibrational modes is realised via stochastic scatterings, implemented as a discrete-time Bernoulli process with Poisson statistics. It controls bath temperature by steering vibrational modes' evolution towards their canonical thermal equilibrium. Numerical analysis of the exciton relaxation dynamics in a small molecular cluster reveals that thermalization additionally provides significant calculation speed up due to reduced number of vibrational modes needed to obtain the convergence.

Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation for General Open Quantum Systems

We derive a thermodynamic uncertainty relation for general open quantum dynamics, described by a joint unitary evolution on a composite system comprising a system and an environment. By measuring the environmental state after the system-environment interaction, we bound the counting observables in the environment by the survival activity, which reduces to the dynamical activity in classical Markov processes. Remarkably, the relation derived herein holds for general open quantum systems with any counting observable and any initial state. Therefore, our relation is satisfied for classical Markov processes with arbitrary time-dependent transition rates and initial states. We apply our relation to continuous measurement and the quantum walk to find that the quantum nature of the system can enhance the precision. Moreover, we can make the lower bound arbitrarily small by employing appropriate continuous measurement.

Thermodynamic reverse bounds for general open quantum processes

Various quantum thermodynamic bounds are shown to stem from a single tighter and more general inequality, consequence of the operator concavity of the logarithmic function. Such an inequality, which we call the ``thermodynamic reverse bound,'' is compactly expressed as a quantum relative entropy, from which it inherits mathematical properties and meaning. As concrete examples, we apply our bound to evaluate the thermodynamic length for open processes, the heat exchange in erasure processes, and the maximal energy outflow in general quantum evolutions.

Nonperturbative leakage elimination for a logical qubit encoded in a mechanical oscillator

Continuous-variable (CV) systems are attracting increasing attention in the realization of universal quantum computation. Several recent experiments have shown the feasibility of using CV systems to, e.g., encode a qubit into a trapped-ion mechanical oscillator and perform logic gates [Nature 566, 513-517 (2019)]. The essential next step is to protect the encoded qubit from quantum decoherence, e.g., the motional decoherence due to the interaction between a mechanical oscillator and its environment. Here we propose a scheme to suppress quantum decoherence of a single-mode harmonic oscillator used to encode qubits by introducing a nonperturbative leakage elimination operator (LEO) specifically designed for this purpose. Remarkably, our nonperturbative LEO can be used to analytically derive exact equations of motion without approximations. It also allows us to prove that the effectiveness of these LEOs only depends on the integral of the pulse sequence in the time domain, while details of the pulse shape does not make a significant difference when the time period is chosen appropriately. This control method can be applied to a system at an arbitrary temperature and arbitrary system-bath coupling strength which makes it extremely useful for general open quantum systems.

Quantum Zeno Dynamics from General Quantum Operations

We consider the evolution of an arbitrary quantum dynamical semigroup of a finite-dimensional quantum system under frequent kicks, where each kick is a generic quantum operation. We develop a generalization of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula allowing to reformulate such pulsed dynamics as a continuous one. This reveals an adiabatic evolution. We obtain a general type of quantum Zeno dynamics, which unifies all known manifestations in the literature as well as describing new types.

Optimized auxiliary oscillators for the simulation of general open quantum systems

A method for the systematic construction of few-body damped harmonic oscillator networks accurately reproducing the effect of general bosonic environments in open quantum systems is presented. Under the sole assumptions of a Gaussian environment and regardless of the system coupled to it, an algorithm to determine the parameters of an equivalent set of interacting damped oscillators obeying a Markovian quantum master equation is introduced. By choosing a suitable coupling to the system and minimizing an appropriate distance between the two-time correlation function of this effective bath and that of the target environment, the error induced in the reduced dynamics of the system is brought under rigorous control. The interactions among the effective modes provide remarkable flexibility in replicating non-Markovian effects on the system even with a small number of oscillators, and the resulting Lindblad equation may therefore be integrated at a very reasonable computational cost using standard methods for Markovian problems, even in strongly non-perturbative coupling regimes and at arbitrary temperatures including zero. We apply the method to an exactly solvable problem in order to demonstrate its accuracy, and present a study based on current research in the context of coherent transport in biological aggregates as a more realistic example of its use; performance and versatility are highlighted, and theoretical and numerical advantages over existing methods, as well as possible future improvements, are discussed.

Tunable asymmetric Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering of microwave photons in superconducting circuits

We present an alternative scheme for generating the asymmetric steering of microwave photons via using a superconducting circuit system, where a single Δ -type three-level fluxoninum qubit interacts dispersively with three superconducting resonators. The nondegenerate parametric down-conversion occurs among three microwave modes by adiabatically eliminating the atomic variables of the artificial atom, which is responsible for the existence of quantum correlation. Furthermore, the asymmetric steering is easily established with the help of coherent driving of the resonators, and its directionality can be controlled by adjusting the driving strengths to two modes among three modes without additional noise. The scheme we present is based on general quantum operations under conditions of decoherence and nonideal coupling efficiency, and the asymmetric steering of microwave photons is a useful resource for the construction of long-distance quantum communication networks in solid-state systems.