Markovian Open Quantum Systems Research Articles

On a tilted Liouville-master equation of open quantum systems

A tilted Liouville-master equation in Hilbert space is presented for Markovian open quantum systems. We demonstrate that it is the unraveling of the tilted quantum master equation. The latter is widely used in the analysis and calculations of stochastic thermodynamic quantities in quantum stochastic thermodynamics.

Thermodynamic uncertainty relations for coherently driven open quantum systems

In classical Markov jump processes, current fluctuations can only be reduced at the cost of increased dissipation. To explore how quantum effects influence this trade-off, we analyze the uncertainty of steady-state currents in Markovian open quantum systems. We first consider three instructive examples and then systematically minimize the product of uncertainty and entropy production for small open quantum systems. As our main result, we find that the thermodynamic cost of reducing fluctuations can be lowered below the classical bound by coherence. We conjecture that this cost can be made arbitrarily small in quantum systems with sufficiently many degrees of freedom. Our results thereby provide a general guideline for the design of thermal machines in the quantum regime that operate with high thermodynamic precision, meaning low dissipation and small fluctuations around average values.

Coupled activity-current fluctuations in open quantum systems under strong symmetries

Strong symmetries in open quantum systems lead to broken ergodicity and the emergence of multiple degenerate steady states. From a quantum jump (trajectory) perspective, the appearance of multiple steady states is related to underlying dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) at the fluctuating level, leading to a dynamical coexistence of different transport channels classified by symmetry. In this paper we investigate how strong symmetries affect both the transport properties and the activity patterns of a particular class of Markovian open quantum system, a three-qubit model under the action of a magnetic field and in contact with a thermal bath. We find a pair of twin DPTs in exciton current statistics, induced by the strong symmetry and related by time reversibility, where a zero-current exchange-antisymmetric phase coexists with a symmetric phase of negative exciton current. On the other hand, the activity statistics exhibits a single DPT where the symmetric and antisymmetric phases of different but nonzero activities dynamically coexists. Interestingly, the maximum current and maximum activity phases do not coincide for this three-qubits system. We also investigate how symmetries are reflected in the joint large deviation statistics of the activity and the current, a central issue in the characterization of the complex quantum jump dynamics. The presence of a strong symmetry under nonequilibrium conditions implies non-analyticities in the dynamical free energy in the dual activity-current plane (or equivalently in the joint activity-current large deviation function), including an activity-driven current lockdown phase for activities below some critical threshold. Remarkably, the DPT predicted around the steady state and its Gallavotti–Cohen twin dual are extended into lines of first-order DPTs in the current-activity plane, with a nontrivial structure which depends on the transport and activity properties of each of the symmetry phases. Finally, we also study the effect of a symmetry-breaking, ergodicity-restoring dephasing channel on the coupled activity-current statistics for this model. Interestingly, we observe that while this dephasing noise destroys the symmetry-induced DPTs, the underlying topological symmetry leaves a dynamical fingerprint in the form of an intermittent, bursty on/off dynamics between the different symmetry sectors.

Large Deviations at Level 2.5 for Markovian Open Quantum Systems: Quantum Jumps and Quantum State Diffusion

We consider quantum stochastic processes and discuss a level 2.5 large deviation formalism providing an explicit and complete characterisation of fluctuations of time-averaged quantities, in the large-time limit. We analyse two classes of quantum stochastic dynamics, within this framework. The first class consists of the quantum jump trajectories related to photon detection; the second is quantum state diffusion related to homodyne detection. For both processes, we present the level 2.5 functional starting from the corresponding quantum stochastic Schrödinger equation and we discuss connections of these functionals to optimal control theory.

Spreading of correlations in Markovian open quantum systems

Understanding the spreading of quantum correlations in out-of-equilibrium many-body systems is one of the major challenges in physics. For {\it isolated} systems, a hydrodynamic theory explains the origin and spreading of entanglement via the propagation of quasi-particle pairs. However, when systems interact with their surrounding much less has been established. Here we show that the quasi-particle picture remains valid for open quantum systems: while information is still spread by quasiparticles, the environment modifies their correlation and introduces incoherent and mixing effects. For free fermions with gain/loss dissipation we provide formulae fully describing incoherent and quasiparticle contributions in the spreading of entropy and mutual information. Importantly, the latter is not affected by incoherent correlations. The mutual information is exponentially damped at short times and eventually vanishes signalling the onset of a classical limit. The behaviour of the logarithmic negativity is similar and this scenario is common to other dissipations. For weak dissipation, the presence of quasiparticles underlies remarkable scaling behaviors.

QSW_MPI: A framework for parallel simulation of quantum stochastic walks

QSW_MPI is a Python package developed for time-series simulation of continuous-time quantum stochastic walks. This model allows for the study of Markovian open quantum systems in the Lindblad formalism, including a generalisation of the continuous-time random walk and continuous-time quantum walk. Consisting of a Python interface accessing parallelised Fortran libraries utilising sparse data structures, QSW_MPI is scalable to massively parallel computers, which makes possible the simulation of a wide range of walk dynamics on directed and undirected graphs of arbitrary complexity. Program summaryProgram Title: QSW_MPICPC Library link to program files:http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/r8jsx4xxgv.1Licensing provisions: GPLv3Programming language: Python 3 + Fortran 2003External routines/libraries: NumPy [1], SciPy [2], MPI for Python [3], h5py[4]Nature of problem: QSW_MPI provides a framework for the simulation of quantum stochastic walks on arbitrary graphs (directed/undirected, weighted/unweighted).Solution method: A parallel distributed-memory implementation of the matrix exponential via a truncated Taylor series expansion with scaling and squaring [5].Additional comments including restrictions and unusual features: QSW_MPI will provide support for the simulation of multiple quantum walkers in a future version.

Exact N -point-function mapping between pairs of experiments with Markovian open quantum systems

We formulate an exact spacetime mapping between the $\mathcal{N}$-point correlation functions of two different experiments with open quantum gases. Our formalism extends a quantum-field mapping result for closed systems [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{94}, 043628 (2016)] to the general case of open quantum systems with Markovian property. For this, we consider an open many-body system consisting of a $D$-dimensional quantum gas of bosons or fermions that interacts with a bath under Born-Markov approximation and evolves according to a Lindblad master equation in a regime of loss or gain. Invoking the independence of expectation values on pictures of quantum mechanics and using the quantum fields that describe the gas dynamics, we derive the Heisenberg evolution of any arbitrary $\mathcal{N}$-point function of the system in the regime when the Lindblad generators feature a loss or a gain. Our quantum field mapping for closed quantum systems is rewritten in the Schr\"odinger picture and then extended to open quantum systems by relating onto each other two different evolutions of the $\mathcal{N}$-point functions of the open quantum system. As a concrete example of the mapping, we consider the mean-field dynamics of a simple dissipative quantum system that consists of a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate being locally bombarded by a dissipating beam of electrons in both cases when the beam amplitude or the waist is steady and modulated.

Quantum speed limit for robust state characterization and engineering

In this paper, we propose a concept to use a quantum speed limit (QSL) as a measure of robustness of states, defining that a state with bigger QSL is more robust. In this perspective, it is important to have an explicitly-computable QSL, because then we can formulate an engineering problem of Hamiltonian that makes a target state robust against decoherence. Hence we derive a new explicitly-computable QSL that is applicable to general Markovian open quantum systems. This QSL is tighter than another explicitly-computable QSL, in an important setup such that decoherence is small. Also the Hamiltonian engineering problem with this QSL is a quadratic convex optimization problem, and thus it is efficiently solvable. The idea of robust state characterization and the Hamiltonian engineering, in terms of QSL, is demonstrated with several examples.

Entanglement statistics in Markovian open quantum systems: A matter of mutation and selection.

Controlling dynamical fluctuations in open quantum systems is essential both for our comprehension of quantum nonequilibrium behavior and for its possible application in near-term quantum technologies. However, understanding these fluctuations is extremely challenging due, to a large extent, to a lack of efficient important sampling methods for quantum systems. Here, we devise a unified framework-based on population-dynamics methods-for the evaluation of the full probability distribution of generic time-integrated observables in Markovian quantum jump processes. These include quantities carrying information about genuine quantum features, such as quantum superposition or entanglement, not accessible with existing numerical techniques. The algorithm we propose provides dynamical free-energy and entropy functionals which, akin to their equilibrium counterpart, permit one to unveil intriguing phase-transition behavior in quantum trajectories. We discuss some applications and further disclose coexistence and hysteresis, between a highly entangled phase and a low entangled one, in large fluctuations of a strongly interacting few-body system.

Quantum Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation for Continuous Measurement.

We use quantum estimation theory to derive a thermodynamic uncertainty relation in Markovian open quantum systems, which bounds the fluctuation of continuous measurements. The derived quantum thermodynamic uncertainty relation holds for arbitrary continuous measurements satisfying a scaling condition. We derive two relations; the first relation bounds the fluctuation by the dynamical activity and the second one does so by the entropy production. We apply our bounds to a two-level atom driven by a laser field and a three-level quantum thermal machine with jump and diffusion measurements. Our result shows that there exists a universal bound upon the fluctuations, regardless of continuous measurements.

Direct reconstruction of the quantum-master-equation dynamics of a trapped-ion qubit

The physics of Markovian open quantum systems can be described by quantum master equations. These are dynamical equations, that incorporate the Hamiltonian and jump operators, and generate the system's time evolution. Reconstructing the system's Hamiltonian and and its coupling to the environment from measurements is important both for fundamental research as well as for performance-evaluation of quantum machines. In this paper we introduce a method that reconstructs the dynamical equation of open quantum systems, directly from a set of expectation values of selected observables. We benchmark our technique both by a simulation and experimentally, by measuring the dynamics of a trapped $^{88}\text{Sr}^+$ ion under spontaneous photon scattering.

Error bounds for constrained dynamics in gapped quantum systems: Rigorous results and generalizations

In arXiv:2001.03419 we introduce a universal error bound for constrained unitary dynamics within a well-gapped energy band of an isolated quantum system. Here, we provide the full details on the derivation of the bound. In addition, we generalize the result to isolated quantum many-body systems by employing the local Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, obtaining an error bound that grows polynomially in time. We also generalize the result to Markovian open quantum systems and quantitatively explain the quantum Zeno effect.

Open quantum systems are harder to track than open classical systems

For a Markovian (in the strongest sense) open quantum system it is possible, by continuously monitoring the environment, to perfectly track the system; that is, to know the stochastically evolving pure state of the system without altering the master equation. In general, even for a system with a finite Hilbert space dimension D, the pure state trajectory will explore an infinite number of points in Hilbert space, meaning that the dimension K of the classical memory required for the tracking is infinite. However, Karasik and Wiseman [Phys. Rev. Lett., 106(2):020406, 2011] showed that tracking of a qubit (D=2) is always possible with a bit (K=2), and gave a heuristic argument implying that a finite K should be sufficient for any D, although beyond D=2 it would be necessary to have K>D. Our paper is concerned with rigorously investigating the relationship between D and Kmin, the smallest feasible K. We confirm the long-standing conjecture of Karasik and Wiseman that, for generic systems with D>2, Kmin>D, by a computational proof (via Hilbert Nullstellensatz certificates of infeasibility). That is, beyond D=2, D-dimensional open quantum systems are provably harder to track than D-dimensional open classical systems. We stress that this result allows complete freedom in choice of monitoring scheme, including adaptive monitoring which is, in general, necessary to implement a physically realizable ensemble (as it is known) of just K pure states. Moreover, we develop, and better justify, a new heuristic to guide our expectation of Kmin as a function of D, taking into account the number L of Lindblad operators as well as symmetries in the problem. The use of invariant subspace and Wigner symmetries (that we recently introduced elsewhere, [New J. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab14b2]) makes it tractable to conduct a numerical search, using the method of polynomial homotopy continuation, to find finite physically realizable ensembles in D=3. The results of this search support our heuristic. We thus have confidence in the most interesting feature of our heuristic: in the absence of symmetries, Kmin∼D2, implying a quadratic gap between the classical and quantum tracking problems. Explicit adaptive monitoring schemes that realize the discovered finite ensembles are obtained numerically, thus facilitating future experimental investigations.

Filter-Based Feedback Control for a Class of Markovian Open Quantum Systems

This letter considers target state preparation for Markovian open quantum systems subject to continuous measurement. Conditions on invariant and attractive subspaces are investigated, which ensure the stabilization of the target state/subspace. For a class of open quantum systems with time delay in the feedback loop, a bang–bang-like control law is proposed, and the stability of the feedback control strategy is proved. An example of four-level Markovian open quantum systems is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Variational Quantum MonteCarlo Method with a Neural-Network Ansatz for Open Quantum Systems.

The possibility to simulate the properties of many-body open quantum systems with a large number of degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) is the premise to the solution of several outstanding problems in quantum science and quantum information. The challenge posed by this task lies in the complexity of the density matrix increasing exponentially with the system size. Here, we develop a variational method to efficiently simulate the nonequilibrium steady state of Markovian open quantum systems based on variational MonteCarlo methods and on a neural network representation of the density matrix. Thanks to the stochastic reconfiguration scheme, the application of the variational principle is translated into the actual integration of the quantum master equation. We test the effectiveness of the method by modeling the two-dimensional dissipative XYZ spin model on a lattice.

Symmetries and physically realisable ensembles for open quantum systems

A D-dimensional Markovian open quantum system will undergo stochastic evolution which preserves pure states, if one monitors without loss of information the bath to which it is coupled. If a finite ensemble of pure states satisfies a particular set of constraint equations then it is possible to perform the monitoring in such a way that the (discontinuous) trajectory of the conditioned system state is, at all long times, restricted to those pure states. Finding these physically realisable ensembles (PREs) is typically very difficult, even numerically, when the system dimension is larger than 2. In this paper, we develop symmetry-based techniques that potentially greatly reduce the difficulty of finding a subset of all possible PREs. The two dynamical symmetries considered are an invariant subspace and a Wigner symmetry. An analysis of previously known PREs using the developed techniques provides us with new insights and lays the foundation for future studies of higher dimensional systems.

Thermodynamics of Quantum Information Flows.

We report two results complementing the second law of thermodynamics for Markovian open quantum systems coupled to multiple reservoirs with different temperatures and chemical potentials. First, we derive a nonequilibrium free energy inequality providing an upper bound for a maximum power output, which for systems with inhomogeneous temperature is not equivalent to the Clausius inequality. Second, we derive local Clausius and free energy inequalities for subsystems of a composite system. These inequalities differ from the total system one by the presence of an information-related contribution and build the ground for thermodynamics of quantum information processing. Our theory is used to study an autonomous Maxwell demon.

Unraveling the Large Deviation Statistics of Markovian Open Quantum Systems.

We analyze dynamical large deviations of quantum trajectories in Markovian open quantum systems in their full generality. We derive a quantum level-2.5 large deviation principle for these systems, which describes the joint fluctuations of time-averaged quantum jump rates and of the time-averaged quantum state for long times. Like its level-2.5 counterpart for classical continuous-time Markov chains (which it contains as a special case), this description is both explicit and complete, as the statistics of arbitrary time-extensive dynamical observables can be obtained by contraction from the explicit level-2.5 rate functional we derive. Our approach uses an unraveled representation of the quantum dynamics which allows these statistics to be obtained by analyzing a classical stochastic process in the space of pure states. For quantum reset processes we show that the unraveled dynamics is semi-Markovian and derive bounds on the asymptotic variance of the number of quantum jumps which generalize classical thermodynamic uncertainty relations. We finish by discussing how our level-2.5 approach can be used to study large deviations of nonlinear functions of the state, such as measures of entanglement.

Quantum regression theorem for out-of-time-ordered correlation functions

We derive an extension of the quantum regression theorem to calculate out-of-time-order correlation functions in Markovian open quantum systems. While so far mostly being applied in the analysis of many-body physics, we demonstrate that out-of-time-order correlation functions appear naturally in optical detection schemes with interferometric delay lines, and we apply our extended quantum regression theorem to calculate the non-trivial photon counting fluctuations in split and recombined signals from a quantum light source.

Making rare events typical in Markovian open quantum systems

Large dynamical fluctuations - atypical realizations of the dynamics sustained over long periods of time - can play a fundamental role in determining the properties of collective behavior of both classical and quantum non-equilibrium systems. Rare dynamical fluctuations, however, occur with a probability that often decays exponentially in their time extent, thus making them difficult to be directly observed and exploited in experiments. Here, using methods from dynamical large deviations, we explain how rare dynamics of a given (Markovian) open quantum system can always be obtained from the typical realizations of an alternative (also Markovian) system. The correspondence between these two sets of realizations can be used to engineer and control open quantum systems with a desired statistics "on demand". We illustrate these ideas by studying the photon-emission behaviour of a three-qubit system which displays a sharp dynamical crossover between active and inactive dynamical phases.