non-Markovian Evolution Research Articles

Exploiting Gaussian steering to probe non-Markovianity due to the interaction with a structured environment

We put forward a measure based on Gaussian steering to quantify the non-Markovianity of continuous-variable (CV) Gaussian quantum channels. We employ the proposed measure to assess and compare the non-Markovianity of a quantum Brownian motion (QBM) channel, originating from the interaction with Ohmic and sub-Ohmic environments with spectral densities described by a Lorentz-Drude cutoff, both at high and low temperatures, showing that sub-Ohmic, high temperature environments lead to highly non-Markovian evolution, with cyclic backflows of Gaussian steerability from the environment to the system. Our results add to the understanding of the interplay between quantum correlations and non-Markovianity for CV systems, and could be implemented at the experimental level to quantify non-Markovianity in some physical scenarios.

Thermodynamics and the quantum speed limit in the non-Markovian regime

Quantum speed limit (QSL) for open quantum systems in the non-Markovian regime is analyzed. We provide a the lower bound for the time required to transform an initial state to a final state in terms of thermodynamic quantities such as the energy fluctuation, entropy production rate and dynamical activity. Such bound was already analyzed for Markovian evolution satisfying detailed balance condition. Here we generalize this approach to deal with arbitrary evolution governed by time-local generator. Our analysis is illustrated by three paradigmatic examples of qubit evolution: amplitude damping, pure dephasing, and the eternally non-Markovian evolution.

Memory effects and quantum speedup for a quantum emitter near a molybdenum disulfide nanodisk

We study memory effects (non-Markovian evolution) in the spontaneous emission dynamics of a quantum emitter near a molybdenum disulfide nanodisk by going beyond the analysis of the reversible population dynamics of the excited state and considering the dynamics of the non-Markovian open system. Specifically, we quantify the non-Markovian spontaneous emission dynamics using different non-Markovianity measures and also investigate the potential quantum speed up of the dynamics in relation to its non-Markovian features. We find that the values of the non-Markovianity measures and of the potential quantum speed up are large under strong coupling conditions, while in both cases the non-Markovianity measures and the quantum speed up decreases as the coupling between the emitter and the nanodisk becomes weaker. A comparison of the different non-Markovianity measures is also presented for the system under study. • Memory effects in the photon emission of a quantum emitter next to a MoS 2 nanodisk are analyzed. • The system is treated as a non-Markovian open quantum system . • For obtaining the results, we use a combination of quantum dynamics calculations with electromagnetic calculations. • Results for different non-Markovianity measures are presented. • The quantum speed limit of the quantum emitter next to the MoS 2 nanodisk is also calculated.

Non-Markovian decoherence of a two-level system in a Lorentzian bosonic reservoir and a stochastic environment with finite correlation time

In this paper we investigate non-Markovian evolution of a two-level system (qubit) in a bosonic bath under influence of an external classical fluctuating environment. The interaction with the bath has the Lorentzian spectral density, and the fluctuating environment (stochastic field) is represented by a set of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. Each of the subenvironments of the composite environment is able to induce non-Markovian dynamics of the two-level system. By means of the numerically exact method of hierarchical equations of motion, we study steady states of the two-level system, evolution of the reduced density matrix and the equilibrium emission spectra in dependence on the frequency cutoffs and the coupling strengths of the subenvironments. Additionally, we investigate the impact of the rotating wave approximation (RWA) for the interaction with the bath on accuracy of the results.

Hierarchical-environment-assisted non-Markovian and its effect on thermodynamic properties

We consider a microscopic collision model, i.e., a quantum system interacts with a hierarchical environment consisting of an auxiliary system and a reservoir. We show how the non-Markovian character of the system is influenced by the coupling strength of system-auxiliary system and auxiliary system-reservoir, coherence of environment and initial system-environment correlations. And we study the non-Markovianity induced by coherence of environment from the perspective of energy, further the relationship between information backflow and energy flux is obtained. Then we study the effect of non-Markovianity on thermodynamic properties. By studying the entropy change of system especially that from heat exchanges with the environment, we reveal the essence of entropy change between positive and negative values during non-Markovian evolution is due to the contribution of heat flux induced by coherence. And compared with the case of Markovian dynamics, we observe that the entropy production decreases in some specific time intervals under non-Markovian dynamics induced by the coupling strength. And this is different to the case of non-Markovianity caused by initial system-environment correlation, that we show the possibility of positive entropy production during the whole dynamics.

Experimental Pauli-frame randomization on a superconducting qubit

The promise of quantum computing with imperfect qubits relies on the ability of a quantum computing system to scale cheaply through error correction and fault-tolerance. While fault-tolerance requires relatively mild assumptions about the nature of qubit errors, the overhead associated with coherent and non-Markovian errors can be orders of magnitude larger than the overhead associated with purely stochastic Markovian errors. One proposal to address this challenge is to randomize the circuits of interest, shaping the errors to be stochastic Pauli errors but leaving the aggregate computation unaffected. The randomization technique can also suppress couplings to slow degrees of freedom associated with non-Markovian evolution. Here we demonstrate the implementation of Pauli-frame randomization in a superconducting circuit system, exploiting a flexible programming and control infrastructure to achieve this with low effort. We use high-accuracy gate-set tomography to characterize in detail the properties of the circuit error, with and without the randomization procedure, which allows us to make rigorous statements about Markovianity as well as the nature of the observed errors. We demonstrate that randomization suppresses signatures of non-Markovian evolution to statistically insignificant levels, from a Markovian model violation ranging from $43\sigma$ to $1987\sigma$, down to violations between $0.3\sigma$ and $2.7\sigma$ under randomization. Moreover, we demonstrate that, under randomization, the experimental errors are well described by a Pauli error model, with model violations that are similarly insignificant (between $0.8\sigma$ and $2.7\sigma$). Importantly, all these improvements in the model accuracy were obtained without degradation to fidelity, and with some improvements to error rates as quantified by the diamond norm.

Non-Markovian dynamics of a two-level system in a bosonic bath and a Gaussian fluctuating environment with finite correlation time

The character of evolution of an open quantum system is often encoded in the correlation function of the environment or, equivalently, in the spectral density function of the interaction. When the environment is heterogeneous, e.g. consists of several independent subenvironments with different spectral functions, one of the subenvironments can be considered auxiliary and used to control decoherence of the open quantum system in the remaining part of the environment. The control can be realized, for example, by adjusting the character of interaction with the subenvironment via suitable parameters of its spectral density. We investigate non-Markovian evolution of a two-level system (qubit) under influence of three independent decoherence channels, two of them have classical nature and originate from interaction with a stochastic field, and the third is a quantum channel formed by interaction with a bosonic bath. By modifying spectral densities of the channels, we study their impact on steady states of the two-level system, evolution of its density matrix and the equilibrium emission spectrums. Additionally, we investigate the impact of the rotation-wave approximation applied to the bath channel on accuracy of the results.

Integral Representation of Finite Temperature Non-Markovian Evolution of Some Systems in Rotating Wave Approximation

We introduce the Friedrichs model at finite temperature which is one- and zero-particle restriction of spin-boson in the rotating wave approximation and obtain the population of the excited state for this model. We also consider the oscillator interacting with bosonic thermal bath in the rotating wave approximation and obtain dynamics of mean excitation number for this oscillator. Both solutions are expressed in terms of integrals of zero-temperature solutions with correspondent correlation functions.

Shortcuts to Adiabaticity in Driven Open Quantum Systems: Balanced Gain and Loss and Non-Markovian Evolution

A universal scheme is introduced to speed up the dynamics of a driven open quantum system along a prescribed trajectory of interest. This framework generalizes counterdiabatic driving to open quantum processes. Shortcuts to adiabaticity designed in this fashion can be implemented in two alternative physical scenarios: one characterized by the presence of balanced gain and loss, the other involves non-Markovian dynamics with time-dependent Lindblad operators. As an illustration, we engineer superadiabatic cooling, heating, and isothermal strokes for a two-level system, and provide a protocol for the fast thermalization of a quantum oscillator.

Quantum metrology in a non-Markovian quantum evolution

The problem of quantum metrology under the context of a particular non-Markovian quantum evolution is explored. We study the dynamics of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) of a composite quantum probe coupled to a Lorentzian environment, for a full variety of different classes of parameters. We are able to find the best metrological state which is not maximally entangled but is the one which evolves fastest. This is shown by evidencing a connection between QFI and different quantum speed limits. At the same time, by optimizing a control field acting over the probes, we show how the total information flow is actively manipulated by the control such as to enhance the parameter estimation at a given final evolution time. At last, under this controlled scenario, a sharp interplay between the dynamics of QFI, non-Markovianity, and entanglement is revealed within different control schemes.

Quantum evolution with a large number of negative decoherence rates

We analyze the evolution of open quantum systems governed by time-local master equations beyond the Markovian semigroup. Non-Markovian effects are usually attributed to the negativity of some decoherence rates in the time-dependent generator. For the qubit dynamics, it is well known that there can be one permanently negative rate in the so-called eternally non-Markovian evolution. We show that for qudits one can have (d − 1)2 out of the total d 2 − 1 rates that are always negative, and the evolution is still physically legitimate—that is, represented by a completely positive, trace-preserving dynamical map.

Irreversibility mitigation in unital non-Markovian quantum evolutions

The relation between the thermodynamic entropy production and non-Markovian evolutions is matter of current research. Here, we study the behavior of the stochastic entropy production in open quantum systems undergoing unital non-Markovian dynamics. In particular, for the family of Pauli channels we show that in some specific time intervals both the average entropy production and the variance can decrease, provided that the quantum dynamics fails to be P-divisible. Although the dynamics of the system is overall irreversible, our result may be interpreted as a transient tendency towards reversibility, described as a delta peaked distribution of entropy production around zero. Finally, we also provide analytical bounds on the parameters in the generator giving rise to the quantum system dynamics, so as to ensure irreversibility mitigation of the corresponding non-Markovian evolution.

Diagrammatic approach for analytical non-Markovian time evolution: Fermi's two-atom problem and causality in waveguide quantum electrodynamics

Non-Markovian time evolution of quantum systems is a challenging problem, often mitigated by employing numerical methods or making simplifying assumptions. In this work, we address this problem in waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) by developing a diagrammatic approach, which performs fully analytical non-Markovian time evolution of single-photon states. By revisiting Fermi's two-atom problem, we tackle the impeding question of whether the rotating-wave approximation violates causality in single-photon waveguide QED. Afterward, we introduce and prove the no upper half-plane poles (no-UHP) theorem, which connects the poles of scattering parameters to the causality principle. Finally, we visualize the time-delayed coherent quantum feedback mediated by the field and discuss the Markovian limit for microscopically separated qubits where short-distance causality violations occur and the emergence of collective decay rates in this limit. Our diagrammatic approach is a method to perform exact and analytical non-Markovian time evolution of multiemitter systems in waveguide QED.

Topological transition of a non-Markovian dissipative quantum walk

We extend non-Hermitian topological quantum walks on a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) lattice [M. S. Rudner and L. Levitov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 065703 (2009)] to the case of non-Markovian evolution. This non-Markovian model is established by coupling each unit cell in the SSH lattice to a reservoir formed by a quasi-continuum of levels. We find a topological transition in this model even in the case of non-Markovian evolution, where the walker may visit the reservoir and return to the SSH lattice at a later time. The existence of a topological transition does, however, depend on the low-frequency properties of the reservoir, characterized by a spectral density $J(\epsilon)\propto |\epsilon|^\alpha$. In particular, we find a robust topological transition for a sub-Ohmic ($\alpha<1$) and Ohmic ($\alpha=1$) reservoir, but no topological transition for a super-Ohmic ($\alpha>1$) reservoir. This behavior is directly related to the well-known localization transition for the spin-boson model. We confirm the presence of non-Markovian dynamics by explicitly evaluating a measure of Markovianity for this model.

Exact Non-Markovian Evolution with Several Reservoirs

The model of a multi-level system interacting with several reservoirs is considered. The exact reduced density matrix evolution could be obtained for this model without Markov approximation. Namely, this evolution is fully defined by the finite set of linear differential equations. In this work the results which were obtained previously for only one Lorentz peak in the spectral density are generalized to the case of an arbitrary number of such peaks. The case of the Ohmic contribution in the spectral density is also taken here into account.

Detecting non-Markovianity via quantified coherence: theory and experiments

The dynamics of open quantum systems and manipulation of quantum resources are both of fundamental interest in quantum physics. Here, we investigate the relation between quantum Markovianity and coherence, providing an effective way for detecting non-Markovianity based on the quantum-incoherent relative entropy of coherence ({mathcal{Q}}{mathcal{I}} REC). We theoretically show the relation between completely positive (CP) divisibility and the monotonic behavior of the {mathcal{Q}}{mathcal{I}} REC. Also we implement an all-optical experiment to demonstrate that the behavior of the {mathcal{Q}}{mathcal{I}} REC is coincident with the entanglement shared between the system and the ancilla for both Markovian and non-Markovian evolution; while other coherence-based non-Markovian information carriers violate monotonicity, even in Markovian processes. Moreover, both theoretically and experimentally, we show that non-Markovianity enhances the ability of creating coherence on an ancilla. This is the first experimental study of the relation between dynamical behavior of the {mathcal{Q}}{mathcal{I}} REC and the phenomenon of information backflow. Our methods for detecting non-Markovianity are applicable to general quantum evolutions.

Rate Operator Unraveling for Open Quantum System Dynamics.

Stochastic methods with quantum jumps are often used to solve open quantum system dynamics. Moreover, they provide insight into fundamental topics, such as the role of measurements in quantum mechanics and the description of non-Markovian memory effects. However, there is no unified framework to use quantum jumps to describe open-system dynamics in any regime. We solve this issue by developing the rate operator quantum jump (ROQJ) approach. The method not only applies to both Markovian and non-Markovian evolutions, but also allows us to unravel master equations for which previous methods do not work. In addition, ROQJ yields a rigorous measurement-scheme interpretation for a wide class of dynamics, including a set of master equations with negative decay rates, and sheds light on different types of memory effects which arise when using stochastic quantum jump methods.

Coherence-based measurement of non-Markovian dynamics in an open quantum system

We present a theoretical scheme and its experimental proof of principle for an open quantum system undergoing Markovian and non-Markovian evolutions. We exhibit these two regimes by diagnosing them with the relative entropy of coherence of two polarization qubits playing the roles of system and ancilla. These are initially prepared in a polarization maximally entangled state of a photon pair produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. We induce Markovian and non-Markovian regimes in the system's dynamics with the help of two auxiliary qubits, experimentally implemented by optical paths in a layout of Sagnac and Mach-Zehnder interferometers. We replicate system-environment interactions by means of an amplitude damping channel and a suitably designed inversion of it. In our scheme, one needs only two experimentally accessible parameters to achieve Markovian and non-Markovian regimes.

IBM Q Experience as a versatile experimental testbed for simulating open quantum systems

The advent of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) technology is changing rapidly the landscape and modality of research in quantum physics. NISQ devices, such as the IBM Q Experience, have very recently proven their capability as experimental platforms accessible to everyone around the globe. Until now, IBM Q Experience processors have mostly been used for quantum computation and simulation of closed systems. Here, we show that these devices are also able to implement a great variety of paradigmatic open quantum systems models, hence providing a robust and flexible testbed for open quantum systems theory. During the last decade an increasing number of experiments have successfully tackled the task of simulating open quantum systems in different platforms, from linear optics to trapped ions, from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to cavity quantum electrodynamics. Generally, each individual experiment demonstrates a specific open quantum system model, or at most a specific class. Our main result is to prove the great versatility of the IBM Q Experience processors. Indeed, we experimentally implement one and two-qubit open quantum systems, both unital and non-unital dynamics, Markovian and non-Markovian evolutions. Moreover, we realise proof-of-principle reservoir engineering for entangled state generation, demonstrate collisional models, and verify revivals of quantum channel capacity and extractable work, caused by memory effects. All these results are obtained using IBM Q Experience processors publicly available and remotely accessible online.

Non-Markovian Evolution of Multi-level System Interacting with Several Reservoirs. Exact and Approximate

An exactly solvable model for the multi-level system interacting with several reservoirs at zero temperatures is presented. Population decay rates and decoherence rates predicted by exact solution and several approximate master equations, which are widespread in physical literature, are compared. The space of parameters is classified with respect to different inequities between the exact and approximate rates.