Understanding the spreading of quantum correlations in out-of-equilibrium many-body systems is one of the major challenges in physics. For {\it isolated} systems, a hydrodynamic theory explains the origin and spreading of entanglement via the propagation of quasi-particle pairs. However, when systems interact with their surrounding much less has been established. Here we show that the quasi-particle picture remains valid for open quantum systems: while information is still spread by quasiparticles, the environment modifies their correlation and introduces incoherent and mixing effects. For free fermions with gain/loss dissipation we provide formulae fully describing incoherent and quasiparticle contributions in the spreading of entropy and mutual information. Importantly, the latter is not affected by incoherent correlations. The mutual information is exponentially damped at short times and eventually vanishes signalling the onset of a classical limit. The behaviour of the logarithmic negativity is similar and this scenario is common to other dissipations. For weak dissipation, the presence of quasiparticles underlies remarkable scaling behaviors.
A general formalism is introduced to allow the steady state of non-Markovian processes on networks to be reduced to equivalent Markovian processes on the same substrates. The example of an epidemic spreading process is considered in detail, where all the non-Markovian aspects are shown to be captured within a single parameter, the effective infection rate. Remarkably, this result is independent of the topology of the underlying network, as demonstrated by numerical simulations on two-dimensional lattices and various types of random networks. Furthermore, an analytic approximation for the effec…
We analyze the dynamics of a population of independent random walkers on a graph and develop a simple model of epidemic spreading. We assume that each walker visits independently the nodes of a finite ergodic graph in a discrete-time markovian walk governed by his specific transition matrix. With this assumption, we first derive an upper bound for the reproduction numbers. Then we assume that a walker is in one of the states: susceptible, infectious, or recovered. An infectious walker remains infectious during a certain characteristic time. If an infectious walker meets a susceptible one on th…
We study the spreading of correlations in the Bose-Hubbard chain, using the time-dependent matrix-product state approach. In both the superfluid and the Mott-insulator phases, we find that the time-dependent correlation functions generally display a universal twofold cone structure characterized by two distinct velocities. The latter are related to different microscopic properties of the system and provide useful information on the excitation spectrum. The twofold spreading of correlations has profound implications on experimental observations that are discussed.
We study a dynamical model of epidemic spreading on complex networks in which there are explicit correlations among the node's connectivities. For the case of Markovian complex networks, showing only correlations between pairs of nodes, we find an epidemic threshold inversely proportional to the largest eigenvalue of the connectivity matrix that gives the average number of links that from a node with connectivity $k$ go to nodes with connectivity $k'$. Numerical simulations on a correlated growing network model provide support for our conclusions.
We study the spreading of information in a wide class of quantum systems, with variable-range interactions. We show that, after a quench, it generally features a double structure, whose scaling laws are related to a set of universal microscopic exponents that we determine. When the system supports excitations with a finite maximum velocity, the spreading shows a twofold ballistic behavior. While the correlation edge spreads with a velocity equal to twice the maximum group velocity, the dominant correlation maxima propagate with a different velocity that we derive. When the maximum group veloci…
The light cone spreading of correlations following a quantum quench is obtained from first principles. Fully taking into account quantum and interaction effects, the derivation shows how light cone dynamics does not require peculiar properties of the post-quench state.
We study the Lindblad master equation in the space of operators and provide simple criteria for closeness of the hierarchy of equations for correlations. We separately consider the time evolution of closed and open systems and show that open systems satisfying the closeness conditions are not necessary of Gaussian type. In addition, we show that dissipation can induce the closeness of the hierarchy of correlations in interacting quantum systems. As an example we study an interacting optomechanical model, the Fermi-Hubbard model, and the Rabi model, all coupled to a fine-tuned Markovian environ…
We extend the semiclassical picture for the spreading of entanglement and correlations to quantum quenches with several species of quasiparticles that have non-trivial pair correlations in momentum space. These pair correlations are, for example, relevant in inhomogeneous lattice models with a periodically-modulated Hamiltonian parameter. We provide explicit predictions for the spreading of the entanglement entropy in the space-time scaling limit. We also predict the time evolution of one- and two-point functions of the order parameter for quenches within the ordered phase. We test all our pre…
Non-Hermitian quantum many-body systems are attracting widespread interest for their exotic properties, including unconventional quantum criticality and topology. Here we study how quantum information and correlations spread under a quantum quench generated by a prototypical non-Hermitian spin chain. Using the mapping to fermions we solve exactly the problem and compute the entanglement entropy and the correlation dynamics in the thermodynamic limit. Depending on the quench parameters, we identify two dynamical phases. One is characterized by rapidly saturating entanglement and correlations. T…
We study the relationship between (non-)Markovian evolutions, established correlations, and the entropy production rate. We consider a system qubit in contact with a thermal bath and in addition the system is strongly coupled to an ancillary qubit. We examine the steady state properties finding that the coupling leads to effective temperatures emerging in the composite system, and show that this is related to the creation of correlations between the qubits. By establishing the conditions under which the system reaches thermal equilibrium with the bath despite undergoing a non-Markovian evoluti…
We investigate the irreversible entropy production of a qubit in contact with an environment modelled by a microscopic collision model both in Markovian and non-Markovian regimes. Our main goal is to contribute to the discussions on the relationship between non-Markovian dynamics and negative entropy production rates. We employ two different types of collision models that do or do not keep the correlations established between the system and the incoming environmental particle, while both of them pertain to their non-Markovian nature through information backflow from the environment to the syst…
We study the real time evolution of the correlation functions in a globally quenched interacting one dimensional lattice system by means of time adaptive density matrix renormalization group. We find a clear light-cone behavior quenching the repulsive interaction from the gapped density wave regime. The spreading velocity increases with the final values of the interaction and then saturates at a certain finite value. In the case of a Luttinger liquid phase as the initial state, for strong repulsive interaction quenches, a more complex dynamics occurs as a result of bound state formations. From…
The past few years have witnessed the development of a comprehensive theory to describe integrable systems out of equilibrium, in which the Bethe ansatz formalism has been tailored to address specific problems arising in this context. While most of the work initially focused on the study of prototypical models such as the well-known Heisenberg chain, many theoretical results have been recently extended to a class of more complicated $\it{nested}$ integrable systems, displaying different species of quasiparticles. Still, in the simplest context of quantum quenches, the vast majority of theoreti…
A Markovian process of a system is defined classically as a process in which the future state of the system is fully determined by only its present state, not by its previous history. There have been several measures of non-Markovianity to quantify the degrees of non-Markovian effect in a process of an open quantum system based on information backflow from the environment to the system. However, the condition for the witness of the system information backflow does not coincide with the classical definition of a Markovian process. Recently, a new measure with a condition that coincides with the…
In a fully-controllable experiment platform for studying non-Markovian open quantum dynamics, we show that the non-Markovianity could be investigated from the global and local aspects. By mixing random unitary dynamics, we demonstrate non-Markovian and Markovian open quantum dynamics. From the global point of view, by tuning the base frequency we demonstrate the transition from the Markovianity to the non-Markovianity as measured by the quantum mutual information (QMI). In a Markovian open quantum process, the QMI decays monotonically, while it may rise temporarily in a non-Markovian process. …
Non-Markovian corrections to the Markovian quantum master equation of an open quantum system are investigated up to the second order of the interaction between the system of interest and a thermal reservoir. The concept of "natural correlation" is discussed. When the system is naturally correlated with a thermal reservoir, the time evolution of the reduced density matrix looks Markovian even in a short-time regime. If the total system was initially in an "unnatural" state, the natural correlation is established during the time evolution, and after that the time evolution becomes Markovian in a…
The orientational memory of particles can serve as an effective measure of diffusivity, spreading, and search efficiency in complex stochastic processes. We develop a theoretical framework to describe the decay of directional correlations in a generic class of stochastic active processes consisting of distinct states of motion characterized by their persistence and switching probabilities between the states. For exponentially distributed sojourn times, the orientation autocorrelation is analytically derived and the characteristic times of its crossovers are obtained in terms of the persistence…
We show that complete positivity is not only sufficient but also necessary for the validity of the quantum data-processing inequality. As a consequence, the reduced dynamics of a quantum system are completely positive, even in the presence of initial correlations with its surrounding environment, if and only if such correlations do not allow any anomalous backward flow of information from the environment to the system. Our approach provides an intuitive information-theoretic framework to unify and extend a number of previous results.
We evaluate the non-Markovian finite-temperature two-time correlation functions (CF's) of system operators of a pure-dephasing spin-boson model in two different ways, one by the direct exact operator technique and the other by the recently derived evolution equations, valid to second order in the system-environment interaction Hamiltonian. This pure-dephasing spin-boson model that is exactly solvable has been extensively studied as a simple decoherence model. However, its exact non-Markovian finite-temperature two-time system operator CF's, to our knowledge, have not been presented in the lite…
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 study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics induced by quantum quenches in quadratic Hamiltonians featuring both short- and long-range interactions. The spreading of correlations in the presence of algebraic decaying interactions, $1/R^α$, is studied for lattice Bose models in arbitrary dimension $D$. These models are exactly solvable and provide useful insight in the universal description of more complex systems as well as comparisons to the known universal upper bounds for the spreading of correlations. Using analytical calculations of the dominant terms and full numerical integration of all qu…
We analyze the dynamics of entanglement in a paradigmatic noninteracting system subject to continuous monitoring of the local excitation densities. Recently, it was conjectured that the evolution of quantum correlations in such system is described by a semi-classical theory, based on entangled pairs of ballistically propagating quasiparticles and inspired by the hydrodynamic approach to unitary (integrable) quantum systems. Here, however, we show that this conjecture does not fully capture the complex behavior of quantum correlations emerging from the interplay between coherent dynamics and co…
Many of the biological, social and man-made networks around us are inherently dynamic, with their links switching on and off over time. The evolution of these networks is often non-Markovian, and the dynamics of their links correlated. Hence, to accurately model these networks, predict their evolution, and understand how information and other quantities propagate over them, the inclusion of both memory and dynamical dependencies between links is key. We here introduce a general class of models of temporal networks based on discrete autoregressive processes. As a case study we concentrate on a …
We analyze some basic issues associated with Generalized Poisson-Kac (GPK) stochastic processes, starting from the extended notion of the Markovian condition. The extended Markovian nature of GPK processes is established, and the implications of this property derived: the associated adjoint formalism for GPK processes is developed essentially in an analogous way as for the Fokker-Planck operator associated with Langevin equations driven by Wiener processes. Subsequently, the regularity of trajectories is addressed: the occurrence of fractality in the realizations of GPK is a long-term emergent…
Recent advances in experimental techniques have made it possible to manipulate and measure the magnetization dynamics on the femtosecond time scale which is the same order as the correlation time of the bath degrees of freedom. In the equations of motion of magnetization, the correlation of the bath is represented by the non-Markovian damping. For development of the science and technologies based on the ultrafast magnetization dynamics it is important to understand how the magnetization dynamics depend on the correlation time. It is also important to determine the correlation time experimental…
Thermalization in open systems coupled to macroscopic environments is usually analyzed from the perspective of relaxation of the reduced state of the system to the equilibrium state. Less emphasis is given to the change of the state of the bath. However, as previously shown for some specific models, during the thermalization the environment may undergo a nontrivial dynamics, indicated by the the change of its von Neumann entropy, at time scales even longer than the relaxation time of the system; here such a behavior is nicknamed as post-thermalization. We provide a more detailed analysis of th…
Critical thinking and skepticism are fundamental mechanisms that one may use to prevent the spreading of rumors, fake-news and misinformation. We consider a simple model in which agents without previous contact with the rumor, being skeptically oriented, may convince spreaders to stop their activity or, once exposed to the rumor, decide not to propagate it as a consequence, for example, of fact-checking. We extend a previous, mean-field analysis of the combined effect of these two mechanisms, active and passive skepticism, to include spatial correlations. This can be done either analytically, …
This paper is concerned with correlation functions of stochastic systems with memory, a prominent example being a molecule or colloid moving through a complex (e.g., viscoelastic) fluid environment. Analytical investigations of such systems based on non-Markovian stochastic equations are notoriously difficult. A common approximation is that of a single-exponential memory, corresponding to the introduction of one auxiliary variable coupled to the Markovian dynamics of the main variable. As a generalization, we here investigate a class of "toy" models with altogether three degrees of freedom, gi…
A link between memory effects in quantum kinetic equations and nonequilibrium correlations associated with the energy conservation is investigated. In order that the energy be conserved by an approximate collision integral, the one-particle distribution function and the mean interaction energy are treated as independent nonequilibrium state parameters. The density operator method is used to derive a kinetic equation in second-order non-Markovian Born approximation and an evolution equation for the nonequilibrium quasi-temperature which is thermodynamically conjugated to the mean interaction en…
A freely walking fly visits roughly 100 stereotyped states in a strongly non-Markovian sequence. To explore these dynamics, we develop a generalization of the information bottleneck method, compressing the large number of behavioral states into a more compact description that maximally preserves the correlations between successive states. Surprisingly, preserving these short time correlations with a compression into just two states captures the long ranged correlations seen in the raw data. Having reduced the behavior to a binary sequence, we describe the distribution of these sequences by an …
