We derive a time-convolutionless master equation for the spin-boson model in the weak coupling limit. The temporarily negative decay rates in the master equation indicate short time memory effects in the dynamics which is explicitly revealed when the dynamics is studied using the non-Markovian jump description. The approach gives new insight into the memory effects influencing the spin dynamics and demonstrates, how for the spin-boson model the the co-operative action of different channels complicates the detection of memory effects in the dynamics.
The dynamics of a non-Markovian open quantum system described by a general time-local master equation is studied. The propagation of the density operator is constructed in terms of two processes: (i) deterministic evolution and (ii) evolution of a probability density functional in the projective Hilbert space. The analysis provides a derivation for the jump probabilities used in the recently developed non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) method (Piilo et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 180402).
Open quantum systems that interact with structured reservoirs exhibit non-Markovian dynamics. We present a quantum jump method for treating the dynamics of such systems. This approach is a generalization of the standard Monte Carlo Wave Function (MCWF) method for Markovian dynamics. The MCWF method identifies decay rates with jump probabilities and fails for non-Markovian systems where the time-dependent rates become temporarily negative. Our non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) approach circumvents this problem and provides an efficient unravelling of the ensemble dynamics.
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…
We discuss in detail how non-Markovian open system dynamics can be described in terms of quantum jumps [J. Piilo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 180402 (2008)]. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to have a jump description contained in the physical Hilbert space of the reduced system. The developed non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) approach is a generalization of the Markovian Monte Carlo Wave Function (MCWF) method into the non-Markovian regime. The method conserves both the probabilities in the density matrix and the norms of the state vectors exactly, and sheds new light on non-Marko…
The quantum jump approach allows to characterize the stochastic dynamics associated to an open quantum system submitted to a continuous measurement action. In this paper we show that this formalism can consistently be extended to non-Markovian system dynamics. The results rely in studying a measurement process performed on a bipartite arrangement characterized by a Markovian Lindblad evolution. Both a renewal and non-renewal extensions are found. The general structure of non-local master equations that admit an unravelling in terms of the corresponding non-Markovian trajectories are also found…
The Monte Carlo wave function method or the quantum trajectory/jump approach is a powerful tool to study dissipative dynamics governed by the Markovian master equation, in particular for high-dimensional systems and when it is difficult to simulate directly. In this paper, we extend this method to the non-Markovian case described by the generalized Lindblad master equation. Two examples to illustrate the method are presented and discussed. The results show that the method can correctly reproduce the dissipative dynamics for the system. The difference between this method and the traditional Mar…
The development and use of Monte Carlo algorithms plays a visible role in the study of non-Markovian quantum dynamics due to the provided insight and powerful numerical methods for solving the system dynamics. In the Markovian case, the connections between the various types of methods are fairly well-understood while for non-Markovian case there has so far been only a few studies. We focus here on two jumplike unravelings of non-Markovian dynamics, the non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) method and the property state method by Gambetta, Askerud, and Wiseman (GAW). The results for simple quantum …
Non-Markovian evolution of an open quantum system can be `unraveled' into pure state trajectories generated by a non-Markovian stochastic (diffusive) Schrödinger equation, as introduced by Diósi, Gisin, and Strunz. Recently we have shown that such equations can be derived using the modal (hidden variable) interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this paper we generalize this theory to treat jump-like unravelings. To illustrate the jump-like behavior we consider a simple system: A classically driven (at Rabi frequency $Ω$) two-level atom coupled linearly to a three mode optical bath, with a cent…
It is shown that non-Markovian master equations for an open system which are local in time can be unravelled through a piecewise deterministic quantum jump process in its Hilbert space. We derive a stochastic Schrödinger equation that reveals how non-Markovian effects are manifested in statistical correlations between different realizations of the process. Moreover, we demonstrate that possible violations of the positivity of approximate master equations are closely connected to singularities of the stochastic Schrödinger equation, which could lead to important insights into the structural cha…
We utilize the novel non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) approach to stochastically simulate exciton dynamics derived from a time-convolutionless master equation. For relevant parameters and time scales, the time-dependent, oscillatory decoherence rates can have negative regions, a signature of non-Markovian behavior and of the revival of coherences. This can lead to non-Markovian population beatings for a dimer system at room temperature. We show that strong exciton-phonon coupling to low frequency modes can considerably modify transport properties. We observe increased exciton transport, which…
We introduce jumptime unraveling as a distinct description of open quantum systems. As our starting point, we consider quantum jump trajectories, which emerge, physically, from continuous quantum measurements, or, formally, from the unraveling of Markovian quantum master equations. If the stochastically evolving quantum trajectories are ensemble-averaged at specific times, the resulting quantum states are solutions to the associated quantum master equation. We demonstrate that quantum trajectories can also be ensemble-averaged at specific jump counts. The resulting jumptime-averaged quantum st…
Non-Markovian quantum state diffusion (NMQSD) is an exact method for calculating the reduced density matrix of an arbitrary subsystem interacting linearly with the radiation field. Applications of the theory have however been few due to the intractable nature of the variational-differential NMQSD evolution equation. Recently, we argued that the variational-differential equation can be rewritten as an integrodifferential equation which can be readily solved numerically. This manuscript provides an explicit derivation of the modified equations. Applications to intermittent fluorescence in $^{24}…
Understanding decoherence processes is crucial in the study of open quantum systems. In this paper, we discuss the mechanism of pure-dephasing process with a newly proposed boson-boson model, namely, a bosonic field coupled to another bosonic bath in thermal equilibrium. Our model is fully solvable and can reproduce the pure-dephasing process which is usually described by the well-known spin-boson model, therefore offering a new perspective to understanding decoherence processes in open quantum systems of high dimension. We also show that this model admits a generically non-Markovian dynamics …
The dynamics of two interacting spins coupled to separate bosonic baths is studied. An analytical solution in Born approximation for arbitrary spectral density functions of the bosonic environments is found. It is shown that in the non-Markovian cases concurrence "lives" longer or reaches greater values.
We investigate the geometric phase of a two-level atom (qubit) coupled to a bosonic reservoir with Lorentzian spectral density, and find that for the non-Markovian dynamics in which rotating-wave approximation (RWA) is performed, geometric phase has a $π$-phase jump at the nodal point. However, the exact result without RWA given by hierarchy equation of motion method shows that there is no such a phase jump or nodal structure in geometric phase. Thus our results demonstrate that the counter-rotating terms significantly contribute to the geometric phase in multi-mode Hamiltonian under certain c…
The non-Markovianity is a recently proposed characterization of the non-Markovian behavior in an open quantum system, based on which we first present a practical idea for directly measuring the non-Markovian character of a single qubit coupled to a zero-temperature bosonic reservoir, and then extend to investigate the dynamics of two noninteracting qubits subject to two reservoirs respectively with a lower bound of non-Markovianity. Our scheme, with no need of optimization procedures and quantum state tomography, is helpful for experimental implementation.
Recently, a large class of quantum non-Markovian piecewise dynamics for an open quantum system obeying closed evolution equations has been introduced [B. Vacchini, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 230401 (2016)]. These dynamics have been defined in terms of a waiting-time distribution between quantum jumps, along with quantum maps describing the effect of jumps and the system's evolution between them. Here, we present a quantum collision model with memory, whose reduced dynamics in the continuous-time limit reproduces the above class of non-Markovian piecewise dynamics, thus providing an explicit microsc…
A general method is developed which enables the exact treatment of the non-Markovian quantum dynamics of open systems through a Monte Carlo simulation technique. The method is based on a stochastic formulation of the von Neumann equation of the composite system and employs a pair of product states following a Markovian random jump process. The performance of the method is illustrated by means of stochastic simulations of the dynamics of open systems interacting with a Bosonic reservoir at zero temperature and with a spin bath in the strong coupling regime.
The spin-boson model describes a qubit coupled to a bosonic bath in thermal equilibrium, and is applicable to a wide range of physical contexts. We show that two weak conditions for the qubit evolution to be Markovian (decreasing system distinguishability and divisibility) are violated at all times t>0, except for a measure-zero set of model parameters. Thus, the recently identified phenomenon of `eternal non-Markovianity' is generic for the spin-boson model. Moreover, there can never be more than one strictly positive decoherence rate, even in the Markovian regime. The main result relies on a…
The "correlated-projection technique" has been successfully applied to derive a large class of highly non Markovian dynamics, the so called non Markovian generalized Lindblad type equations or Lindblad rate equations. In this article, general unravellings are presented for these equations, described in terms of jump-diffusion stochastic differential equations for wave functions. We show also that the proposed unravelling can be interpreted in terms of measurements continuous in time, but with some conceptual restrictions. The main point in the measurement interpretation is that the structure i…
We investigate memory effects in the spin-boson model using a recently proposed measure for non-Markovian behavior based on the information exchange between an open system and its environment. Employing the numerical exact multilayer multiconfguration time-dependent Hartree approach, we simulate the dynamics of the spin-boson model at zero temperature for a broad range of parameters. For a fast bath, i.e. in the scaling limit, we find non-Markovian dynamics for a coherently decaying spin at weak system-bath coupling, whereas memory effects are absent for stronger coupling in the regimes of inc…
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 connection…
One long-standing difficult problem in quantum dissipative dynamics is to solve the spin-boson model in a non-Markovian regime where a tractable systematic master equation does not exist. The spin-boson model is particularly important due to its crucial applications in quantum noise control and manipulation as well as its central role in developing quantum theories of open systems. Here we solve this important model by developing a non-Markovian quantum Langevin approach. By projecting the quantum Langevin equation onto the coherent states of the bath, we can derivie a set of non-Markovian qua…
Stochastic methods with quantum jumps are often used to solve open quantum system dynamics. Moreover, they provide insight into fundamental topics, 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 wor…
We provide a simple and realistic model to study memory effects in a lossy bosonic quantum channel over arbitrary number of uses. The noise correlation among different uses is introduced by contiguous modes interactions which results in an exponential decay of the correlations over channel uses (modes). This model allows us to characterize the asymptotic behavior of the channel for classical information transmission.
Quantum Brownian oscillator model (QBM), in the Fock-space representation, can be viewed as a multi-level spin-boson model. At sufficiently low temperature, the oscillator degrees of freedom are dynamically reduced to the lowest two levels and the system behaves effectively as a two-level (E2L) spin-boson model (SBM) in this limit. We discuss the physical mechanism of level reduction and analyze the behavior of E2L-SBM from the QBM solutions. The availability of close solutions for the QBM enables us to study the non-Markovian features of decoherence and leakage in a SBM in the non-perturbativ…
For a bosonic (fermionic) open system in a bath with many bosons (fermions) modes, we derive the exact non-Markovian master equation in which the memory effect of the bath is reflected in the time dependent decay rates. In this approach, the reduced density operator is constructed from the formal solution of the corresponding Heisenberg equations. As an application of the exact master equation, we study the active probing of non-Markovianity of the quantum dissipation of a single boson mode of electromagnetic (EM) field in a cavity QED system. The non-Markovianity of the bath of the cavity is …
We provide the exact non-Markovian master equation for a two-level system interacting with a thermal bosonic bath, and we write the solution of such a master equation in terms of the Bloch vector. We show that previous approximated results are particular limits of our exact master equation. We generalize these results to more complex systems involving an arbitrary number of two-level systems coupled to different thermal baths, providing the exact master equations also for these systems. As an example of this general case we derive the master equation for the Jaynes-Cummings model.
Non-Markovian dynamics of two interacting two-level qubits coupled to a bosonic bath was previously studied using the quantum-state-diffusion (QSD) equation, where a stochastic state is used to describe the system. In this study, we provide another perspective on this system by deriving the analytic form of the master equation, which describes the system with a reduced density matrix. Then, we validate the master equation by examining entanglement generation and state purity. In addition, with the master equation, we observe the effects from first-order noise and notice that a good asymptotic …
Simulation methods based on stochastic realizations of state vector evolutions are commonly used tools to solve open quantum system dynamics, both in the Markovian and non-Markovian regime. Here, we address the question of waiting time distribution (WTD) of quantum jumps for non-Markovian systems. We generalize Markovian quantum trajectory methods in the sense of deriving an exact analytical WTD for non-Markovian quantum dynamics and show explicitly how to construct this distribution for certain commonly used quantum optical systems.
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…
The uncertainty relation is a fundamental limit in quantum mechanics and is of great importance to quantum information processing as it relates to quantum precision measurement. Due to interactions with the surrounding environment, a quantum system will unavoidably suffer from decoherence. Here, we investigate the dynamic behaviors of the entropic uncertainty relation of an atom-cavity interacting system under a bosonic reservoir during the crossover between Markovian and non-Markovian regimes. Specifically, we explore the dynamic behavior of the entropic uncertainty relation for a pair of inc…
We study non-Markovian dynamics of a two level atom using pseudomode method. Because of the memory effect of non-Markovian dynamics, the atom receives back information and excited energy from the reservoir at a later time, which causes more complicated behaviors than Markovian dynamics. With pseudomode method, non-Markovian dynamics of the atom can be mapped into Markovian dynamics of the atom and pseudomode. We show that by using pseudomode method and quantum jump approach for Markovian dynamics, we get a physically intuitive insight into the memory effect of non-Markovian dynamics. It sugges…
Objectivity constitutes one of the main features of the macroscopic classical world. An important aspect of the quantum-to-classical transition issue is to explain how such a property arises from the microscopic quantum world. Recently, within the framework of open quantum systems, there has been proposed such a mechanism in terms of the, so-called, Spectrum Broadcast Structures. These are multipartite quantum states of the system of interest and a part of its environment, assumed to be under an observation. This approach requires a departure from the standard open quantum systems methods, as …
We consider two qubits interacting with a common bosonic bath, but not directly between themselves. We derive the (bipartite) entanglement generation conditions for Gaussian non-Markovian dynamical maps and show that they are similar as in the Markovian regime; however, they depend on different physical coefficients and hold on different time scales. Indeed, for small times, in the non-Markovian regime entanglement is possibly generated on a shorter time scale ($\propto t^2$) than in the Markovian one ($\propto t$). Moreover, although the singular coupling limit of non-Markovian dynamics yield…
We investigate the effect of counter-rotating-wave terms on the non-Markovianity in quantum open systems by employing the hierarchical equations of motion in the framework of the non-Markovian quantum state diffusion approach. As illustrative examples, the non-Markovian memory effect of a qubit embedded in a bosonic and a fermionic environment at zero temperature are analyzed. It is found that the counter-rotating-wave terms are able to enhance the observed non-Markovianity no matter the environment is composed of bosons or fermions. This result suggests that the rotating-wave approximation ma…
The remote control of coherence is a crucial step for its application in quantum computation. We investigate the maximal steered coherence (MSC) and its conversion to entanglement in multiple bosonic reservoirs. It is shown that the MSC decays with time in the Markovian regime and behaves as damped oscillations in the non-Markovian regime. The MSC can also be connected directly to the strength of non-Markovianity, through which we show that it can be noticeably enhanced by taking full advantage of the non-Markovian effects. Besides, the MSC can be converted completely to entanglement via optim…
We investigate the non-Markovian dynamics of two-state systems in structured reservoirs. We establish a connection between two theoretical quantum approaches, the pseudomodes [B. M. Garraway, Phys. Rev. A 55, 2290 (1997)] and the recently developed non-Markovian quantum jump method [J. Piilo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 180402 (2008)]. This connection provides a clear physical picture of how the structured reservoir affects the system dynamics, indicating the role of the pseudomodes as an effective description of the environmental memory.
Modeling the non-equilibrium dissipative dynamics of strongly interacting quantized degrees of freedom is a fundamental problem in several branches of physics and chemistry. We implement a quantum state trajectory scheme for solving Lindblad quantum master equations that describe coherent and dissipative processes for a set of strongly-coupled quantized oscillators. The scheme involves a sequence of stochastic quantum jumps with transition probabilities determined the system state and the system-reservoir dynamics. Between consecutive jumps, the wavefunction is propagated in coordinate space u…
We derive an upper bound for the distinguishability-based non-Markovianity measure of a two-level system and prove that for certain master equations the exact value of the measure achieves this bound. Furthermore, we obtain an easily calculable lower bound for the divisibility-based non-Markovianity measure of an $n$-level system. We illustrate the calculation of these bounds through examples, considering in detail the spin-boson model. We show that the differences between the two measures in the spin-boson model are caused by the drift vector that is also responsible for the non-unitality of …
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.
A method for deriving accurate analytic approximations for Markovian open quantum systems was recently introduced in [F. Lucas and K. Hornberger, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 240401 (2013)]. Here, we present a detailed derivation of the underlying non-perturbative jump expansion, which involves an adaptive resummation to ensure optimal convergence. Applying this to a set of exemplary master equations, we find that the resummation typically leads to convergence within the lowest two to five orders. Besides facilitating analytic approximations, the optimal jump expansion thus provides a numerical schem…
Majorana bosons, that is, tight bosonic analogs of the Majorana fermionic quasiparticles of condensed matter physics, are forbidden for gapped free bosonic matter within a standard Hamiltonian scenario. We show how the interplay between dynamical metastability and nontrivial bulk topology makes their emergence possible in noninteracting bosonic chains undergoing Markovian dissipation. This leads to a distinctive form of topological metastability, whereby a conserved Majorana boson localized on one edge is paired, in general, with a symmetry generator localized on the opposite edge. We argue th…
We develop a systematic and efficient approach for numerically solving the non-Markovian quantum state diffusion equations for open quantum systems coupled to an environment up to arbitrary orders of noises or coupling strengths. As an important application, we consider a real-time simulation of a spin-boson model in a strong coupling regime that is difficult to deal with using conventional methods. We show that the non-Markovian stochastic Schrödinger equation can be efficiently implemented as a real--time simulation for this model, so as to give an accurate description of spin-boson dynamics…
Solving realistic quantum systems coupled to an environment is a challenging task. Here we develop a hierarchical functional derivative (HFD) approach for efficiently solving the non-Markovian quantum trajectories of an open quantum system embedded in a bosonic bath. An explicit expression for arbitrary order HFD equation is derived systematically. Moreover, it is found that for an analytically solvable model, this hierarchical equation naturally terminates at a given order and thus becomes exactly solvable. This HFD approach provides a systematic method to study the non-Markovian quantum dyna…
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 paramete…
We consider Markovian open quantum systems subject to stochastic resetting, which means that the dissipative time evolution is reset at randomly distributed times to the initial state. We show that the ensuing dynamics is non-Markovian and has the form of a generalized Lindblad equation. Interestingly, the statistics of quantum-jumps can be exactly derived. This is achieved by combining techniques from the thermodynamics of quantum-jump trajectories with the renewal structure of the resetting dynamics. We consider as an application of our analysis a driven two-level and an intermittent three-l…
In this work, we investigate the non-Markovianity, quantum Fisher information (QFI) and quantum coherence of a qubit in a nonequilibrium environment and have obtained the expressions of QFI and quantum coherence as well as their relationship. We have also discussed in detail the influences of the different noise parameters on these quantum sffects. The results show that the suitable parameters of the nonequilibrium environment can retard the QFI and quantum coherence in both Markovian and non-Markovian regions. In addition, the smaller memory effects and the larger the jumping rate, the greate…
The deep sub-Ohmic spin-boson model shows a longstanding non-Markovian coherence at low temperature. Motivating to quench this robust coherence, the thermal effect is unitarily incorporated into the time evolution of the model, which is calculated by the adaptive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group algorithm combined with the orthogonal polynomials theory. Via introducing a unitary heating operator to the bosonic bath, the bath is heated up so that a majority portion of the bosonic excited states is occupied. It is found in this situation the coherence of the spin is quickly qu…
The entanglement between a Pauli-like two-level system and a quantum harmonic oscillator enhanced by an interaction between them and a $δ$-pulse sequence is studied, with the decoherence due to their coupling with a Markovian bath. Without the Markovian bath, the entanglement is enhanced to maximum possible values. With the Markovian bath, the entanglement is enhanced up to some time and then dissipated, with the system in thermal equilibrium with the Markovian bath after a very long time. The time for achieving the maximum entanglement shows discontinuous jumps over the parameters of decohere…
The dynamics of two spins coupled to bosonic baths at different temperatures is studied. The analytical solution for the reduced density matrix of the system in the Markovian and Post-Markovian case with exponential memory kernel is found. The dynamics and temperature dependence of spin-spin entanglement is analyzed.
It is shown that the exact dynamics of a composite quantum system can be represented through a pair of product states which evolve according to a Markovian random jump process. This representation is used to design a general Monte Carlo wave function method that enables the stochastic treatment of the full non-Markovian behavior of open quantum systems. Numerical simulations are carried out which demonstrate that the method is applicable to open systems strongly coupled to a bosonic reservoir, as well as to the interaction with a spin bath. Full details of the simulation algorithms are given, …
