We show that decoherence is determined by the effective Hilbert space size, and demonstrate that a few degrees of freedom system can simulate a "N" degrees of freedom environment if they have the same effective Hilbert space. The effective Hilbert space size of the environment also determines its long time efficiency as generator of irreversible coherence loss.
We show that some classically chaotic quantum systems uncoupled from noisy environments may generate intrinsic decoherence with all its associated effects. In particular, we have observed time irreversibility and high sensitivity to small perturbations in the initial conditions in a quasiperiodic version of the kicked rotor. The existence of simple quantum systems with intrinsic decoherence clarifies the quantum--classical correspondence in chaotic systems.
The problem investigated in this paper is einselection, i. e. the selection of mutually exclusive quantum states with definite probabilities through decoherence. Its study is based on a theory of decoherence resulting from the projection method in the quantum theory of irreversible processes, which is general enough for giving reliable predictions. This approach leads to a definition (or redefinition) of the coupling with the environment involving only fluctuations. The range of application of perturbation calculus is then wide, resulting in a rather general master equation. Two distinct cases…
Quantum correlations between two systems can be impaired by the presence of an environment, as it can make systems decohere. We wish to evaluate how much coherence has been irreversibly lost. To do so, we study two qubits which leak correlations into an arbitrarily large environment and we find that our ability to steer one of them to the most coherent set of states possible by acting on the other is given by the sub-fidelity of two conditional states of the environment. Sub-fidelity is a quantity that was already known, but that until now lacked an operational interpretation. Furthermore, we …
Anomalous decoherence in the Jaynes-Cummings model emerges for a certain class of bosonic reservoirs, described by spectral densities with a band edge frequency coinciding with the qubit transition frequency. The special reservoirs are piecewise similar to those usually adopted in Quantum Optics, i.e., sub-ohmic at low frequencies and inverse power laws at high frequencies. The exact dynamics of the qubit is described analytically through Fox $H$-functions. Over estimated long time scales, decoherence results in inverse power laws with powers decreasing continuously to unity, according to the …
The decoherence in trapped ion induced by coupling the ion to the engineered reservoir is studied in this paper. The engineered reservoir is simulated by random variations in the trap frequency, and the trapped ion is treated as a two-level system driven by a far off-resonant plane wave laser field. The dependence of the decoherence rate on the amplitude of the superposition state is given.
In this paper, we provide a mechanism of decoherence suppression for open quantum systems in general, and that for "Schrodinger cat-like" state in particular, through the strong couplings to non-Markovian reservoirs. Different from the usual strategies of suppressing decoherence by decoupling the system from the environment in the literatures, here the decoherence suppression employs the strong back-reaction from non-Markovian reservoirs. The mechanism relies on the existence of the singularities (bound states) of the nonequilibrium retarded Green function which completely determines the dissi…
We investigate decoherence-free evolution (DFE) of quantum discord (QD) for two initially-correlated qubits in two finite-temperature reservoirs using an exactly solvable model. We study QD dynamics of the two qubits coupled to two independent Ohmic reservoirs when the two qubits are initially prepared in X-type quantum states. It is found that reservoir temperature significantly affects the DFE dynamics. We show that it is possible to control the DFE and to prolong the DFE time by choosing suitable parameters of the two-qubit system and reservoirs.
The decoherence of two initially entangled qubits in a non-Markovian reservoir has been investigated exactly without Born Markovian approximation and rotating-wave approximation(RWA). The non-perturbative quantum master equation is derived and its exact solution is obtained. The decoherence behaviors of two qubits, initially entangled in Bell states, has been investigated in three different cases of parameters. The results show that the counter-rotating wave terms have great influence on the decoherence behavior, and there are differences between the exact solution of the Hamiltonian with RWA …
The exact dynamics of a Jaynes-Cummings model for a qubit interacting with a continuous distribution of bosons, characterized by a special form of the spectral density, is evaluated analytically. The special reservoir is designed to induce anomalous decoherence, resulting in an inverse power law relaxation, of power 3/2, over an evaluated long time scale. If compared to the exponential-like relaxation obtained from the original Jaynes-Cummings model for Lorentzian-type spectral density functions, decoherence is strongly suppressed. The special reservoir exhibits an upper band edge frequency co…
A phase damping reservoir composed by $N$-bosons coupled to a system of interest through a cross-Kerr interaction is proposed and its effects on quantum superpo sitions are investigated. By means of analytical calculations we show that: i-) the reservoir induces a Gaussian decay of quantum coherences, and ii-) the inher ent incommensurate character of the spectral distribution yields irreversibility . A state-independent decoherence time and a master equation are both derived an alytically. These results, which have been extended for the thermodynamic limit, show that nondissipative decoherenc…
We study the decoherence speed limit (DSL) of a single impurity atom immersed in a Bose-Einsteincondensed (BEC) reservoir when the impurity atom is in a double-well potential. We demonstrate how the DSL of the impurity atom can be manipulated by engineering the BEC reservoir and the impurity potential within experimentally realistic limits. We show that the DSL can be controlled by changing key parameters such as the condensate scattering length, the effective dimension of the BEC reservoir, and the spatial configuration of the double-well potential imposed on the impurity. We uncover the phys…
The Bolztmann echo (BE) is a measure of irreversibility and sensitivity to perturbations for non-isolated systems. Recently, different regimes of this quantity were described for chaotic systems. There is a perturbative regime where the BE decays with a rate given by the sum of a term depending on the accuracy with which the system is time-reversed and a term depending on the coupling between the system and the environment. In addition, a parameter independent regime, characterised by the classical Lyapunov exponent, is expected. In this paper we study the behaviour of the BE in hyperbolic map…
We evaluate exactly the non-Markovian effect on the decoherence dynamics of a qubit interacting with a dissipative vacuum reservoir and find that the coherence of the qubit can be partially trapped in the steady state when the memory effect of the reservoir is considered. Our analysis shows that it is the formation of a bound state between the qubit and its reservoir that results in this residual coherence in the steady state under the non-Markovian dynamics. A physical condition for the decoherence suppression is given explicitly. Our results suggest a potential way to decoherence control by …
A deterministic scheme for generating a macroscopic superposition state of a nanomechanical resonator is proposed. The nonclassical state is generated through a suitably engineered dissipative dynamics exploiting the optomechanical quadratic interaction with a bichromatically driven optical cavity mode. The resulting driven dissipative dynamics can be employed for monitoring and testing the decoherence processes affecting the nanomechanical resonator under controlled conditions.
Although coupling to a super-Ohmic bosonic reservoir leads only to partial dephasing on short time scales, exponential decay of coherence appears in the Markovian limit (for long times) if anharmonicity of the reservoir is taken into account. This effect not only qualitatively changes the decoherence scenario but also leads to localization processes in which superpositions of spatially separated states dephase with a rate that depends on the distance between the localized states. As an example of the latter process, we study the decay of coherence of an electron state delocalized over two semi…
In this paper we analyze the double Caldeira-Leggett model: the path integral approach to two interacting dissipative harmonic oscillators. Assuming a general form of the interaction between the oscillators, we consider two different situations: i) when each oscillator is coupled to its own reservoir, and ii) when both oscillators are coupled to a common reservoir. After deriving and solving the master equation for each case, we analyze the decoherence process of particular entanglements in the positional space of both oscillators. To analyze the decoherence mechanism we have derived a general…
We consider four two-level atoms interacting with independent non-Markovian reservoirs with detuning. We mainly investigate the effects of the detuning and the length of the reservoir correlation time on the decoherence dynamics of the multipartite entanglement. We find that the time evolution of the entanglement of atomic and reservoir subsystems is determined by a parameter, which is a function of the detuning and the reservoir correlation time. We also find that the decay and revival of the entanglement of the atomic and reservoir subsystems are closely related to the sign of the decay rate…
We propose an effective Hamiltonian approach to investigate decoherence of a quantum system in a non-Markovian reservoir, naturally imposing the complete positivity on the reduced dynamics of the system. The formalism is based on the notion of an effective reservoir, i.e., certain collective degrees of freedom in the reservoir that are responsible for the decoherence. As examples for completely positive decoherence, we present three typical decoherence processes for a qubit such as dephasing, depolarizing, and amplitude-damping. The effects of the non-Markovian decoherence are compared to the …
Dynamical irreversibility and local decoherence in quantum many-body chaos
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México(墨西哥国立自治大学物理研究所);Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México(墨西哥国立自治大学核科学研究所);Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems, Institute for Basic Science (IBS)(基础科学研究院复杂系统理论物理中心)
We investigate the optimal control problem for non-Markovian open, dissipative quantum system. Optimal control using Pontryagin maximum principle is specifically derived. The influences of Ohmic reservoir with Lorentz-Drude regularization are numerically studied in a two-level system under the following three conditions: ω_0\llω_c, ω_0\approxω_c or ω_0\ggω_c, where ω_0 is the characteristic frequency of the quantum system of interest, and ω_c the cut-off frequency of Ohmic reservoir. The optimal control process shows its remarkable influences on the decoherence dynamics. The temperature is a k…
A general theory is presented for the treatment of decoherence of a multilevel quantum system (with many degrees of freedom) interacting with multi-bath reservoir and driven by ac fields. In this approach, the system is described by a reduced density operator and the multi-bath reservoir is characterized by a number of spectral densities. The reduced density operator is governed by the master equation in which the effect of ac driving fields and the leakage to non-computational states are included. The theory is applied to the study of decoherence of a two-dimensional (2D) SQUID flux qubit cou…
The dynamic of correlations in a system composed of a two-mode quantum field coupled with the environment is studied. The quantum field corresponds to two entangled coherent states whose amplitude we vary up to the mesoscopic regime. We show that under the onset of decoherence, correlations in the quantum field are not lost but transferred to the environment. We also found that sudden transitions in the decoherence regimes appear along with the dynamics depending on the coherent states' amplitude. Increasing the amplitude of the entangled coherence state results in the apparition of a metastab…
We test Boltzmann's H-theorem for several models of particle random walk. We study the influence of interaction between the particle and reservoir/detectors on entropy and find entropy increasing in time for some models and behaving non-monotonically for others. The key mechanism affecting the entropy growth is the quantum entanglement between the system and the reservoir. We discuss the details of the system-reservoir interaction, such as presence of the interference in the system and number of interactions with detector parts, and their impact on the monotonicity of entropy.
We present a new strategy for multipulse control over decoherence. When a two-level system interacts with a reservoir characterized by a specific frequency, we find that the decoherence is effectively suppressed by synchronizing the pulse-train application with the dynamical motion of the reservoir.
The decoherence of two initially entangled qubits in a squeezed vacuum cavity has been investigated exactly. The results show that, first, in principle, the disentanglement time decreases with the increasing of squeeze parameter r, due to the augmenting of average photon number of every mode in squeezed vacuum cavity. Second, there are entanglement revivals after complete disentanglement for the case of even parity initial Bell state, while there are entanglement decrease and revival before complete disentanglement for the case of odd parity initial Bell state. The results are quite different …
The information in quantum computers is often stored in identical two-level systems (spins or pseudo-spins) that are separated by a distance shorter than the characteristic wavelength of a reservoir which is responsible for decoherence. In such a case, the collective spin-reservoir interaction, rather than an individual spin-reservoir interaction, may determine the decoherence characteristics. We use computational basis states, symmetrized spin states and spin coherent states to study collective decoherence in the implementation of various quantum algorithms. A simple method of implementing qu…
We develop a method to determine spatial configurations to realize decoherence-free subspaces for spatially extended multi-particle systems. We have assumed normal reservoir behavior including translational invariance of the reservoir and preparation in stationary states or mixture thereof and weak Markovian system-reservoir coupling that requires energy transfer. One important outcome of our method is a proof that there does not exist a multi-particle decoherence-free subspace in such systems except in the limit that the spatial extent of the system becomes infinitesimal.
The Loschmidt echo (LE) is a measure of the sensitivity of quantum mechanics to perturbations in the evolution operator. It is defined as the overlap of two wave functions evolved from the same initial state but with slightly different Hamiltonians. Thus, it also serves as a quantification of irreversibility in quantum mechanics. In this thesis the LE is studied in systems that have a classical counterpart with dynamical instability, that is, classically chaotic. An analytical treatment that makes use of the semiclassical approximation is presented. It is shown that, under certain regime of th…
We present a proposal for realizing local decoherence-free evolution of given entangled states of two two-level (TL) ions. For two TL ions coupled to a single heavily damped cavity, we can use engineering reservoir scheme to obtain a decoherence-free subspace which can be nonadiabatically controlled by the system and reservoir parameters. Then the local decoherence-free evolution of the entangled states are achieved. And we also discuss the relation between the geometric phases and the entanglement of the two ions under the nonadiabatic coherent evolution.
We consider a network of interacting resonators and analyze the physical ingredients that enable the emergence of relaxation-free and decoherence-free subspaces. We investigate two different situations: i) when the whole network interacts with a common reservoir and ii) when each resonator, strongly coupled to each other, interacts with its own reservoir. Our main result is that both subspaces are generated when all the resonators couple with the same group of reservoir modes, thus building up a correlation (among these modes), which has the potential to shield particular network states agains…
We introduce Hermite polynomial excitation squeezed vacuum (SV) H_{n}(O)S(r)|0> with O=u a+v a^{+}. We investigate analytically the nonclassical properties according to Mandel's Q parameter, second correlation function, squeezing effect and the negativity of Wigner function (WF). It is found that all these nonclassicalities can be enhanced by H_{n}(O)operation and adjustable parameters u and v. In particular, the optimal negative volume delta_{opt}of WF can be achieved by modulating u and v for n>=2,while delta is kept unchanged for n=1. Furthermore, the decoherence effect of phase-sensitive e…
We study the effect of the environment on the process of the measurement of a state of a microscopic spin half system. The measuring apparatus is a heavy particle, whose center of mass coordinates can be considered at the end of the measurement as approximately classical, and thus can be used as a pointer. The state of the pointer, which is the result of its interaction with the spin, is transformed into a mixed state by the coupling of the pointer to the environment. The environment is considered to be a gas reservoir, whose particles interact with the pointer. This results in a Fokker-Planck…
Decoherence in quantum systems which are classically chaotic is studied. The Arnold cat map and the quantum kicked rotor are chosen as examples of linear and nonlinear chaotic systems. The Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism is used to study the effect of the environment on the system. It is well-known that quantum coherence can obliterate many chaotic behavior in the corresponding classical system. But interaction with an environment can under general circumstances quickly diminish quantum coherence and reenact many classical chaotic behavior. How effective decoherence works to sust…
This review summarizes and amplifies on recent investigations of coupled quantum dynamical systems in the short wavelength limit. We formulate and attempt to answer three fundamental questions: (i) What drives a dynamical quantum system to behave classically ? (ii) What determines the rate at which two coupled quantum--mechanical systems become entangled ? (iii) How does irreversibility occur in quantum systems with few degrees of freedom ? We embed these three questions in the broader context of the quantum--classical correspondence, which motivates the use of short--wavelength approximations…
We present a way to engineer an effective anti-Jaynes-Cumming and a Jaynes-Cumming interaction between an atomic system and a single cavity mode and show how to employ it in reservoir engineering processes. To construct the effective Hamiltonian, we analyse considered the interaction of an atomic system in a \{Lambda} configuration, driven by classical fields, with a single cavity mode. With this interaction, we firstly show how to generate a decoherence-free displaced squeezed state for the cavity field. In our scheme, an atomic beam works as a reservoir for the radiation field trapped inside…
We consider two systems A and B that share Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering correlations and study how these correlations will decay, when each of the systems are independently coupled to a reservoir. EPR steering is a directional form of entanglement, and the measure of steering can change depending on whether the system A is steered by B, or vice versa. First, we examine the decay of the steering correlations of the two-mode squeezed state. We find that if the system B is coupled to a reservoir, then the decoherence of the steering of A by B is particularly marked, to the extent that t…
Relaxation of a two-level system (TLS) into a resonant infinite-temperature reservoir with a Lorentzian spectrum is studied. The reservoir is described by a complex Gaussian-Markovian field coupled to the nondiagonal elements of the TLS Hamiltonian. The theory can be relevant for electromagnetic interactions in microwave high-$Q$ cavities and muon spin depolarization. Analytical results are obtained for the strong-coupling regime, $Ω_0\ggν$, where $Ω_0$ is the rms coupling amplitude (Rabi frequency) and $ν$ is the width of the reservoir spectrum. In this regime, the population difference and h…
It is known that one can characterize the decoherence strength of a Markovian environment by the product of its temperature and induced damping, and order the decoherence strength of multiple environments by this quantity. We show that for non-Markovian environments in the weak coupling regime there also exists a natural (albeit partial) ordering of environment-induced irreversibility within a perturbative treatment. This measure can be applied to both low-temperature and non-equilibrium environments.
The non-unitary evolution of initial number states in general Gaussian environments is solved analytically. Decoherence in the channels is quantified by determining explicitly the purity of the state at any time. The influence of the squeezing of the bath on decoherence is discussed. The behavior of coherent superpositions of number states is addressed as well.
It is shown how the programme of decoherence can be applied in the context of quantum field theory. To illustrate the role of gauge invariance, we first discuss the charge superselection rule in quantum electrodynamics in some detail. We then present an example where macroscopic electromagnetic fields are ``measured" through interaction with charges and thereby rendered classical.
We prove a quantum version of the second law of thermodynamics: the (quantum) Boltzmann entropy increases if the initial (zero time) density matrix decoheres, a condition generally satisfied in Nature. It is illustrated by a model of wave-packet reduction, the Coleman-Hepp model, along the framework introduced by Sewell in his approach to the quantum measurement problem. Further models illustrate the monotonic-versus-non-monotonic behavior of the quantum Boltzmann entropy in time. As a last closely related topic, decoherence, which was shown by Narnhofer and Thirring to enforce macroscopic pur…
The question of how irreversibility can emerge as a generic phenomena when the underlying mechanical theory is reversible has been a long-standing fundamental problem for both classical and quantum mechanics. We describe a mechanism for the appearance of irreversibility that applies to coherent, isolated systems in a pure quantum state. This equilibration mechanism requires only an assumption of sufficiently complex internal dynamics and natural information-theoretic constraints arising from the infeasibility of collecting an astronomical amount of measurement data. Remarkably, we are able to …
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 dependence of the steady states of the two-level…
We study the non-Markovian entanglement dynamics of two qubits in a common squeezed bath. We see remarkable difference between the non-Markovian entanglement dynamics with its Markovian counterpart. We show that a non-Markovian decoherence free state is also decoherence free in the Markovian regime, but all the Markovian decoherence free states are not necessarily decoherence free in the non-Markovian domain. We extend our calculation from squeezed vacuum bath to squeezed thermal bath, where we see the effect of finite bath temperatures on the entanglement dynamics.
We propose a method for controlling the decoherence of a driven qubit that is strongly coupled to a reservoir, when the qubit resonance frequency is close to a continuum edge of the reservoir spectum. This strong-coupling regime is outside the scope of existing methods of decoherence control. We demonstate that an appropriate sequence of nearly abrupt changes of the resonance frequency can protect the qubit state from decay and decoherence more effectively than the intuitively obvious alternative, which is to fix the resonance well within a forbidden bandgap of the reservoir spectrum, as far a…
We analyze decoherence of an electron in a double-dot due to the interaction with acoustic phonons. For large tunneling rates between the quantum dots, the main contribution to decoherence comes from the phonon emission relaxation processes, while for small tunneling rates, the virtual-phonon, dephasing processes dominate. Our results show that in common semiconductors, such as Si and GaAs, the latter mechanism determines the upper limit for the double-dot charge qubit performance measure.
In this paper we present a comprehensive analysis of the coherence phenomenon of two coupled dissipative oscillators. The action of a classical driving field on one of the oscillators is also analyzed. Master equations are derived for both regimes of weakly and strongly interacting oscillators from which interesting results arise concerning the coherence properties of the joint and the reduced system states. The strong coupling regime is required to achieve a large frequency shift of the oscillator normal modes, making it possible to explore the whole profile of the spectral density of the res…
We study systematically the non-Markovian decoherence dynamics of a dissipative two-level system, i.e., the so-called spin-boson model. It is interesting to find that the decoherence tends to be inhibited with the increase of the coupling strength between the system and the reservoir, which is contrary to the common recognition that a stronger coupling always induces a severer decoherence. This is attributed to the occurrence of a quantum phase transition (QPT). The relationship between this QPT and conventional delocalized-localized QPT is also discussed. Our result suggests a useful control …
If a magnetic polarization excess is locally injected in a crystal of interacting spins, this "excitation" would spread as consequence of spin-spin interactions. Such an apparently irreversible process is known as spin diffusion and it can lead the system back to "equilibrium". Even so, a unitary quantum dynamics would ensure a precise memory of the non-equilibrium initial condition. Then, if at certain time, say $t/2$, an experimental protocol reverses the many-body dynamics, it would drive the system back to the initial non-equilibrium state at time $t$. As a matter of fact, the reversal is …
We address the system-reservoir dynamics of classical and quantum correlations in the decoherence phenomenon, regarding a two qubit composite system interacting with two independent environments. The most common noise channels (amplitude damping, phase damping, bit flip, bit-phase flip, and phase flip) was studied. By analytical and numerical analysis we found that, contrary to what is usually stated in the literature, decoherence may occurs without entanglement between the system and the environment. We also found that, in some cases, the bipartite quantum correlation initially presented in t…
We study the evolution of reduced density matrix of an impurity coupled to a Fermi sea after the coupling is switched on at time $t=0$. We find the non-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix decay exponentially, and the decay constant is the impurity level width $Γ$. And we study the information transfer rate between the impurity and the Fermi sea, which also decays exponentially. And the decay constant is $kΓ$ with $k=2\sim 4$. Our results reveal the relation between information transfer rate and decoherence rate.
We show that the effects of decoherence on quantum steering ellipsoids can be controlled by a specific reservoir manipulating, in both Markovian and non-Markovian realms. Therefore, the so-called maximal steered coherence could be protected through reservoir engineering implemented by coupling auxiliary qubits to the reservoir.
We evaluate the spin squeezing dynamics of N independent spin-1/2 particles with exchange symmetry. Each spin interacts with its own reservoir, and the reservoirs are independently and identical. The spin squeezing parameter is analytically calculated with different kinds of decoherence. The spin squeezing property vanishes with evolution time under the Markovian decoherence. Whereas coupled to the non-Markovian decoherence channels, the spin squeezing property collapses and revives with time. As spin squeezing can be regarded as a witness of multipartite entanglement, thus our scheme shows th…
We study the spin polarization of mixed and entangled electron states in a four probe/beam splitter geometry with local Rashba and Dresselhaus interactions. A pair of maximally entangled electrons collides with the beam splitter and enters into two perpendicular branches of length L, composed of spin-orbit active materials (gate confined 2D electron gas). One of the branches is connected to an electron reservoir that acts as a source of decoherence by either behaving as a voltage probe or as a controlled source or sink of current at fixed voltage. Such decoherence source is used to modify the …
Decoherence is the main obstacle to quantum computation. The decoherence rate per qubit is typically assumed to be constant. It is known, however, that quantum registers coupling to a single reservoir can show a decoherence rate per qubit that increases linearly with the number of qubits. This effect has been referred to as superdecoherence, and has been suggested to pose a threat to the scalability of quantum computation. Here, we show that superdecoherence is absent when the spectrum of the single reservoir is continuous, rather than discrete. The reason of this absence, is that, as the numb…
We show that in the limit of strongly interacting environment a system initially prepared in a Decoherence Free Subspace (DFS) coherently evolves in time, adiabatically following the changes of the DFS. If the reservoir cyclicly evolves in time, the DFS states acquire an holonomy.