By modeling the interaction of a system with an environment through a renewal approach, we demonstrate that completely positive non-Markovian dynamics may develop some unexplored non-standard statistical properties. The renewal approach is defined by a set of disruptive events, consisting in the action of a completely positive superoperator over the system density matrix. The random time intervals between events are described by an arbitrary waiting-time distribution. We show that, in contrast to the Markovian case, if one performs a system-preparation (measurement) at an arbitrary time, the subsequent evolution of the density matrix evolution is modified. The non-stationary character refers to the absence of an asymptotic master equation even when the preparation is performed at arbitrary long times. In spite of this property, we demonstrate that operator expectation values and operators correlations have the same dynamical structure, establishing the validity of a non-stationary quantum regression hypothesis. The non-stationary property of the dynamic is also analyzed through the response of the system to an external weak perturbation.
In the classical domain, it is well-known that divisibility does not imply that a stochastic process is Markovian. However, for quantum processes, divisibility is often considered to be synonymous with Markovianity. We show that completely positive (CP) divisible quantum processes can still involve non-Markovian temporal correlations, that we then fully classify using the recently developed process tensor formalism, which generalizes the theory of stochastic processes to the quantum domain.
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 …
We consider open quantum systems with factorized initial states, providing the structure of the reduced system dynamics, in terms of environment cumulants. We show that such completely positive (CP) and trace preserving (TP) maps can be unraveled by linear stochastic Schrödinger equations (SSEs) characterized by sets of colored stochastic processes (with n-th order cumulants). We obtain both the conditions such that the SSEs provide CPTP dynamics, and those for unraveling an open system dynamics. We then focus on Gaussian non-Markovian unravellings, whose known structure displays a functional …
A new post-Markovian quantum master equation is derived, that includes bath memory effects via a phenomenologically introduced memory kernel k(t). The derivation uses as a formal tool a probabilistic single-shot bath-measurement process performed during the coupled system-bath evolution. The resulting analytically solvable master equation interpolates between the exact Nakajima-Zwanzig equation and the Markovian Lindblad equation. A necessary and sufficient condition for complete positivity in terms of properties of k(t) is presented, in addition to a prescription for the experimental determin…
By modeling the interaction of an open quantum system with its environment through a natural generalization of the classical concept of continuous time random walk, we derive and characterize a class of non-Markovian master equations whose solution is a completely positive map. The structure of these master equations is associated with a random renewal process where each event consist in the application of a superoperator over a density matrix. Strong non-exponential decay arise by choosing different statistics of the renewal process. As examples we analyze the stochastic and averaged dynamics…
We prove a generalization of the quantum Markovian equation for observables. In this generalized equation, we use superoperators that are fractional powers of completely dissipative superoperators. We prove that the suggested superoperators are infinitesimal generators of completely positive semigroups and describe the properties of this semigroup. We solve the proposed fractional quantum Markovian equation for the harmonic oscillator with linear friction. A fractional power of the Markovian superoperator can be considered a parameter describing a measure of "screening" of the environment of t…
Dynamical A and B maps have been employed extensively by Sudarshan and co-workers to investigate open system evolution of quantum systems. A canonical structure of the A-map is introduced here. It is shown that this canonical A-map enables us to investigate if the dynamics is completely positive (CP) or non-completely positive (NCP) in an elegant way and hence, it subsumes the basic results on open system dynamics. Identifying memory effects in open system evolution is gaining increasing importance recently and here, a criterion of non-Markovianity, based on the relative entropy of the dynamic…
Interpolating between positive, Schwarz, and completely positive evolution for d-level systems
Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University（尼古拉·哥白尼大学物理、天文学和信息技术学院物理研究所）；Department of Mathematical Sciences College of Science, The United Arab Emirates University（阿拉伯联合酋长国大学理学院数学科学系）
We show that two, non interacting 2-level systems, immersed in a common bath, can become mutually entangled when evolving according to a Markovian, completely positive reduced dynamics.
We deduce a class of non-Markovian completely positive master equations which describe a system in a composite bipartite environment, consisting of a Markovian reservoir and additional stationary unobserved degrees of freedom that modulate the dissipative coupling. The entanglement-induced memory effects can persist for arbitrary long times and affect the relaxation to equilibrium, as well as induce corrections to the quantum-regression theorem. By considering the extra degrees of freedom as a discrete manifold of energy levels, strong non-exponential behavior can arise, as for example power l…
Non-Markovian reduced dynamics of an open system is investigated. In the case the initial state of the reservoir is the vacuum state, an approximation is introduced which makes possible to construct a reduced dynamics which is completely positive.
We characterize to what extent it is possible to modify the stationary states of a quantum dynamical semigroup, that describes the irreversible evolution of a two-level system, by means of an auxiliary two-level system. We consider systems that can be initially entangled or uncorrelated. We find that the indirect control of the stationary states is possible, even if there are not initial correlations, under suitable conditions on the dynamical parameters characterizing the evolution of the joint system.
A wide class of non-Markovian completely positive master equations can be formulated on the basis of quantum collisional models. In this phenomenological approach the dynamics of an open quantum system is modeled through an ensemble of stochastic realizations that consist in the application at random times of a (collisional) completely positive transformation over the system state. In this paper, we demonstrate that these kinds of models can be embedded in bipartite Markovian Lindblad dynamics consisting of the system of interest and an auxiliary one. In contrast with phenomenological formulat…
We provide an analytical investigation of the pairwise entanglement dynamics for a system, consisting an arbitrary number of qubits dissipating into a common and non-Markovian environment for both weak and strong coupling regimes. In the latter case, a revival of pairwise entanglement due to the memory depth of the environment is observed. The leakage of photons into a continuum state is assumed to be the source of dissipation. We show that for an initially Werner state, the environment washes out the pairwise entanglement, but a series of non-selective measurements can protect the relevant en…
We introduce a method to construct non-Markovian variants of completely positive (CP) dynamical maps, particularly, qubit Pauli channels. We identify non-Markovianity with the breakdown in CP-divisibility of the map, i.e., appearance of a not-completely-positive (NCP) intermediate map. In particular, we consider the case of non-Markovian dephasing in detail. The eigenvalues of the Choi matrix of the intermediate map crossover at a point which corresponds to a singularity in the canonical decoherence rate of the corresponding master equation, and thus to a momentary non-invertibility of the map…
We analyze efficiency of excitation energy transfer in photosynthetic complexes in transient and stationary setting. In the transient setting the absorption process is modeled as an individual event resulting in a subsequent relaxation dynamics. In the stationary setting the absorption is a continuous stationary process, leading to the nonequilibrium steady state. We show that, as far as the efficiency is concerned, both settings can be considered to be the same, as they result in almost identical efficiency. We also show that non-Markovianity has no effect on the resulting efficiency, i.e., c…
We construct a non-Markovian canonical dynamical map that accounts for systems correlated with the environment. The physical meaning of not completely positive maps is studied to obtain a theory of non-Markovian quantum dynamics. The relationship between inverse maps and correlations with the environment is established. A generalized non-Markovian master equation is derived from the canonical dynamical map that goes beyond the Kossakowski-Lindblad Markovian master equation. Non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics can be be studied within this theory.
The time reversal of a completely-positive, nonequilibrium discrete-time quantum Markov evolution is derived via a suitable adjointness relation. Space-time harmonic processes are introduced for the forward and reverse-time transition mechanisms, and their role for relative entropy dynamics is discussed.
We study the interaction between several fields initially in coherent states. The solution allows us to explain why coherent states remain coherent states when subject to non-Markovian dissipation. We first study the interaction between two fields and show that this is the building block of the total interaction. We give a completely algebraic solution of this system.
We obtain new types of exponential decay laws for solutions of density-matrix master equations in the weak-coupling limit: after comparing with results already present in the literature and developing the necessary techniques, we study the crucial aspect of complete positivity under fairly general conditions. We propose a new type of time average that guarantees complete positivity and approximates, in markovian fashion, the exact dynamics for a plethora of physical applications, no matter which are the spectral properties of the subsystem, or its dimensions. We shall comment on some interesti…
Non-Markovian master equations describe general open quantum systems when no approximation is made. We provide the exact closed master equation for the class of Gaussian, completely positive, trace preserving, non-Markovian dynamics. This very general result allows to investigate a vast variety of physical systems. We show that the master equation for non-Markovian quantum Brownian motion is a particular case of our general result. Furthermore, we derive the master equation unraveled by a non-Markovian, dissipative stochastic Schrödinger equation, paving the way for the analysis of dissipative…
The prevailing description for dissipative quantum dynamics is given by the Lindblad form of a Markovian master equation, used under the assumption that memory effects are negligible. However, in certain physical situations, the master equation is essentially of a non-Markovian nature. This paper examines master equations that possess a memory kernel, leading to a replacement of white noise by colored noise. The conditions under which this leads to a completely positive, trace-preserving map are discussed for an exponential memory kernel. A physical model that possesses such an exponential mem…
Convex combinations of the completely positive (CP) as well as CP-divisible, continuous time dynamical maps arising from collision models are investigated. While the individual maps are both CP and Markovian we find that convex combinations remain CP but not necessarily Markovian. Examples of such combinations for qubit dynamical maps arising from collisional models are worked out and the invertibility, CP-divisibility, P-divisibility as well as Markovian properties of such maps are explored.
The non-Markovian nature of open quantum dynamics lies in the structure of the multitime correlations, which are accessible by means of interventions. Here, by examining multitime correlations, we show that it is possible to engineer non-Markovian systems with only long-term memory but seemingly no short-term memory, so that their non-Markovianity is completely non-detectable by any interventions up to an arbitrarily large time. Our results raise the question about the assessibility of non-Markovianity: in principle, non-Markovian effects that are perfectly elusive to interventions may emerge …
The so-called Maryland model is a linear version of the quantum kicked rotor; it exhibits Anderson localization in momentum space. By turning the kicks into a Markovian stochastic process, the dynamics becomes a dissipative quantum process described by a discrete family of completely positive maps that allows to explicitly study the relation between divisibility of the maps and the degree of memory of the process.
A central problem in the theory of the dynamics of open quantum systems is the derivation of a rigorous and computationally tractable master equation for the reduced system density matrix. Most generally, the evolution of an open quantum system is described by a completely positive linear map. We show how to derive a completely positive Markovian master equation (the Lindblad equation) from such a map by a coarse graining procedure. We provide a novel and explicit recipe for calculating the coefficients of the master equation, using perturbation theory in the weak-coupling limit. The only para…
The phenomenological dissipation of the Bloch equations is reexamined in the context of completely positive maps. Such maps occur if the dissipation arises from a reduction of a unitary evolution of a system coupled to a reservoir. In such a case the reduced dynamics for the system alone will always yield completely positive maps of the density operator. We show that, for Markovian Bloch maps, the requirement of complete positivity imposes some Bloch inequalities on the phenomenological damping constants. For non-Markovian Bloch maps some kind of Bloch inequalities involving eigenvalues of the…
In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the generalized Pauli channels governed by the memory kernel master equation. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the memory kernel to give rise to the legitimate (completely positive and trace-preserving) quantum evolution. In particular, we analyze a class of kernels generating the quantum semi-Markov evolution, which is a natural generalization of the Markovian semigroup. Interestingly, the convex combination of Markovian semigroups goes beyond the semi-Markov case. Our analysis is illustrated with several examples.
Witnessing non-stationary and non-Markovian environments with a quantum sensor
Weizmann Institute of Science（魏茨曼科学研究所）；Centro Atómico Bariloche, CONICET, CNEA（巴里洛切原子中心，阿根廷国家科学技术研究委员会，阿根廷核能委员会）；Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotechnologia, CNEA, CONICET（纳米科学与技术研究所，阿根廷核能委员会，阿根廷国家科学技术研究委员会）；Instituto Balseiro, CNEA, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo（巴尔塞罗研究所，阿根廷核能委员会，门多萨国立大学）；Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart（斯图加特大学第三物理研究所）
We provide a general construction of quantum generalized master equations with memory kernel leading to well defined, that is completely positive and trace preserving, time evolutions. The approach builds on an operator generalization of memory kernels appearing in the description of non-Markovian classical processes, and puts into evidence the non uniqueness of the relationship arising due to the typical quantum issue of operator ordering. The approach provides a physical interpretation of the structure of the kernels, and its connection with the classical viewpoint allows for a trajectory de…
We investigate the relation between two approaches to the characterisation of quantum Markovianity, divisibility and lack of information backflow. We show that a bijective dynamical map is completely-positive-divisible if and only if a monotonic non-increase of distinguishability is observed for two equiprobable states of the evolving system and an ancilla. Moreover our proof is constructive: given any such map that is not completely-positive-divisible, we give an explicit construction of two states that, when taken with the same a priori probability, exhibit information back-flow. Finally, wh…
In this paper, we investigate preservation of quantum coherence of a single-qubit interacting with a zero-temperature thermal reservoir through the addition of noninteracting qubits in the reservoir. Moreover, we extend this scheme to preserve quantum entanglement between two and three distant qubits, each of which interacts with a dissipative reservoir independently. At the long time limit, we obtained analytical expressions for the coherence measure and the concurrence of two and three qubits in terms of the number of additional qubits. It is observed that, by increasing the number of additi…
Using the nonperturbative method, we study the exact entanglement dynamics of two two-level dipole-dipole interacting atoms coupled to a common non-Markovian reservoir with different coupling strengths. Besides analyzing the conditions for the existence of steady state, we find, though the dipole-dipole interaction could destroy the stationary entanglement, that relatively strong dipole-dipole interaction does suppress the disentanglement in the initial period of time. These results are helpful for the practical engineering of the entanglement in the future.
We propose a simple structure for stationary non-Markovian quantum chains in the framework of collisional dynamics of open quantum systems. To this end, we modify the microscopic Markovian system--reservoir model, consider multiple collisions with each of the molecules with an overlap between the collisional time intervals. We show how the equivalent Markovian quantum chain can be constructed with the addition of satellite quantum memory to the system. We distinguish quantum from classical non-Markovianity. Moreover, we define the counts of non-Markovianity by the required number of satellite …
Semiclassical path integral expression for a quantum system coupled to a harmonic bath is derived based on the stationary phase condition. It is discovered that the system path is non-Markovian. Most strikingly, the system path not only couples to its past (as in the Langevin equation), but also to its future, i.e. the equation of motion for the system is an integro-differential equation that involves all times. Numerical tests are performed to confirm that the future-involved term is indeed necessary. Because of the future-non-Markovian nature of the equation, the numerical solution cannot be…
We solve two long standing problems for stochastic descriptions of open quantum system dynamics. First, we find the classical stochastic processes corresponding to non-Markovian quantum state diffusion and non-Markovian quantum jumps in projective Hilbert space. Second, we show that the diffusive limit of non-Markovian quantum jumps can be taken on the projective Hilbert space in such a way that it coincides with non-Markovian quantum state diffusion. However, the very same limit taken on the Hilbert space leads to a completely new diffusive unraveling, which we call non-Markovian quantum diff…
The interplay between non-Markovian dynamics and driving fields in the survival of entanglement between two non-degenerate oscillators is considered here. Based on exact analytical results for the non-Markovian dynamics of two parametrically coupled non-degenerate oscillators in contact to non-identical independent thermal baths, the out-of-equilibrium quantum limit derived in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 180501 (2010)] is generalized to the non-Markovian regime. Specifically, it is shown that non-Markovian dynamics, when compared to the Markovian case, allow for the survival of stationary entanglem…
We study the decoherence properties of an entangled bipartite qubit system, represented by two two-level atoms that are individually coupled to non-Markovian reservoirs. This coupling ensures that the dynamical equations of the atoms can be treated independently. The non-Markovian reservoirs are described by a model which leads to an exact non-Markovian master equation of the Nakajima-Zwanzig form [J. Salo, S. M. Barnett, and S. Stenholm, Optics Commun. 259, 772 (2006)]. We consider the evolution of the entanglement of a two-atom state that is initially completely entangled, quantified by its …
We find the conditions under which a quantum regression theorem can be assumed valid for non-Markovian master equations consisting in Lindblad superoperators with memory kernels. Our considerations are based on a generalized Born-Markov approximation, which allows us to obtain our results from an underlying Hamiltonian description. We demonstrate that a non-Markovian quantum regression theorem can only be granted in a stationary regime if the dynamics satisfies a quantum detailed balance condition. As an example we study the correlations of a two level system embedded in a complex structured r…
We explore the effects of frequent, impulsive quantum nondemolition measurements of the energy of two-level systems (TLS), alias qubits, in contact with a thermal bath. The resulting entropy and temperature of both the system and the bath are found to be completely determined by the measurement rate, and unrelated to what is expected by standard thermodynamical rules that hold for Markovian baths. These anomalies allow for very fast control of heating, cooling and state-purification (entropy reduction) of qubits, much sooner than their thermal equilibration time.
In statistical mechanics, any quantum system in equilibrium with its weakly coupled reservoir is described by a canonical state at the same temperature as the reservoir. Here, by studying the equilibration dynamics of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a reservoir, we evaluate microscopically the condition under which the equilibration to a canonical state is valid. It is revealed that the non-Markovian effect and the availability of a stationary state of the total system play a profound role in the equilibration. In the Markovian limit, the conventional canonical state can be recovered. I…
We consider a two-dimensional quantum control system evolving under an entropy-increasing irreversible dynamics in the semigroup form. Considering a phenomenological approach to the dynamics, we show that the accessibility property of the system depends on whether its evolution is assumed to be positive or completely positive. In particular, we characterize the family of maps having different accessibility and show the impact of that property on observable quantities by means of a simple physical model.
The breaking of the continuous time-translation symmetry manifests, in Markovian open quantum systems, through the emergence of non-stationary dynamical phases. Systems that display nonequilibrium transitions into these phases are referred to as time-crystals, and they can be realized, for example, in many-body systems governed by collective dissipation and long-ranged interactions. Here, we provide a complete analytical characterization of a boundary time-crystal phase transition. This involves exact expressions for the order parameter and for the dynamics of quantum fluctuations, which, in t…
We provided a class of legitimate memory kernels leading to completely positive trace preserving dynamical maps. Our construction is based on a simple normalization procedure. Interestingly, when applied to the celebrated Wigner-Weisskopf theory it gives the standard Markovian evolution governed by the local master equation.
We investigate the relationship between non-Markovianity and the effectiveness of a dynamical decoupling protocol for qubits undergoing pure dephasing. We consider an exact model in which dephasing arises due to a bosonic environment with a spectral density of the Ohmic class. This is parametrised by an Ohmicity parameter by changing which we can model both Markovian and non-Markovian environments. Interestingly, we find that engineering a non-Markovian environment is detrimental to the efficiency of the dynamical decoupling scheme, leading to a worse coherence preservation. We show that each …
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…
It is known that the time evolution of a subsystem from an initial state to two later times, t1, t2 (t2 > t1), are both completely positive (CP) but it is shown here that in the intermediate times between t1 and t2, in general, it need not be CP. This reveals the key to the Markov (if CP) and nonMarkov (if NCP) avataras of the intermediate dynamics. This is brought out based on A and B dynamical maps - without resorting to Master equation approach. The choice of tensor product form for the global initial state points towards the system-environment interaction dynamics as the sole cause for Mar…
Relying on an exact time evolution scheme, we identify a novel transient energy transfer phe- nomenon in an exactly-solvable quantum microscopic model consisting of a three-level system coupled to two non-Markovian zero-temperature bosonic baths through two separable quantum channels. The dynamics of this model can be solved exactly using the quantum-state-diffusion equation formalism, demonstrating finite intervals of unidirectional energy flow across the system, typically, from the non-Markovian environment towards the more Markovian bath. Furthermore, when introducing a spatial asymmetry in…
A maximal steady-state fermionic entanglement of a nanoelectronic system is generated in finite temperature non-Markovian environments. The fermionic entanglement dynamics is presented by connecting the exact solution of the system with an appropriate definition of fermionic entanglement. We prove that the two understandings of the dissipationless non-Markovian dynamics, namely the bound state and the modified Laplace transformation are completely equivalent. For comparison, the steady-state entanglement is also studied in the wide-band limit and Born-Markovian approximation. When the environm…
We study the dynamics of a macroscopic superconducting qubit coupled to two independent non-stationary reservoirs by using time-dependent perturbation theory. We show that an equilibrium environment surpasses the coherent evolution of the macroscopic qubit completely. When the qubit couples to two different reservoirs, exemplifying a non-equilibrium environment, the short-time dynamics is affected by the interference between two reservoirs, implying the non-additivity of effects of two reservoirs. The non-additivity can be traced back to a non-Markovian effect, even though two reservoirs are i…
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 \textit{quantum-incoherent relative entropy of coherence} ($\mathcal{QI}$ REC). We theoretically show the relation between completely positive (CP) divisibility and the monotonic behavior of the $\mathcal{QI}$ REC. Also we implement an all-optical experiment to demonstrate that the behavior of the $\mathcal{QI}$ REC is co…
Convolutionless and convolution master equations are the two mostly used physical descriptions of open quantum systems dynamics. We subject these equations to time deformations: local dilations and contractions of time scale. We prove that the convolutionless equation remains legitimate under any time deformation (results in a completely positive dynamical map) if and only if the original dynamics is completely positive divisible. Similarly, for a specific class of convolution master equations we show that uniform time dilations preserve positivity of the deformed map if the original map is po…
Steady-state manifolds of open quantum systems, such as decoherence-free subspaces and noiseless subsystems, are of great practical importance to the end of quantum information processing. Yet, it is a difficult problem to find steady-state manifolds of open quantum systems, especially of non-Markovian systems. In this paper, we propose an approach to find the steady-state manifolds, which is generally applicable to both Markovian and non-Markovian systems. Our approach is based on an arbitrarily given steady state, and by following the standard steps of the approach, the steady-state manifold…
