Open quantum systems undergo decoherence, which is responsible for the transition from quantum to classical behavior. The time scale in which decoherence takes place can be analyzed using upper limits to its rate. We examine the dynamics of open chaotic quantum systems governed by random Lindblad operators sourced from Gaussian and Ginibre ensembles with Wigner-Dyson symmetry classes. In these systems, the ensemble-averaged purity decays monotonically as a function of time. This decay is governed by the decoherence rate, which is upper-bounded by the dimension of their Hilbert space and is independent of the ensemble symmetry. These findings hold upon mixing different ensembles, indicating the universal character of the decoherence rate limit. Moreover, our findings reveal that open chaotic quantum systems governed by random Lindbladians tend to exhibit the most rapid decoherence, regardless of the initial state. This phenomenon is associated with the concentration of the decoherence rate near its upper bound. Our work identifies primary features of decoherence in dissipative quantum chaos, with applications ranging from quantum foundations to high-energy physics and quantum technologies.
It is shown how possible corrections to ordinary quantum mechanics described by the Lindblad equation might be detected by exploiting the great precision of atomic clocks.
Zurek, Habib and Paz [W. H. Zurek, S. Habib and J. P. Paz, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 70} (1993)\ 1187] have characterized the set of states of maximal stability defined as the set of states having minimum entropy increase due to interaction with an environment, and shown that coherent states are maximal for the particular environment model examined. To generalize these results, I consider entropy production within the Lindblad theory of open systems, treating environment effects perturbatively. I characterize the maximally predicitive states which emerge from several forms of effective dynamics, i…
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems we determine the degree of quantum decoherence and classical correlations of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a thermal bath. The transition from quantum to classical behaviour of the considered system is analyzed and it is shown that the classicality takes place during a finite interval of time. We calculate also the decoherence time and show that it has the same scale as the time after which statistical fluctuations become comparable with quantum fluctuations.
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems, expressions for the density operator, von Neumann entropy and effective temperature of the damped harmonic oscillator are obtained. The entropy for a state characterized by a Wigner distribution function which is Gaussian in form is found to depend only on the variance of the distribution function. We give a series of inequalities, relating uncertainty to von Neumann entropy and linear entropy. We analyze the conditions for purity of states and show that for a special choice of the diffusion coefficients, the correlated coherent…
Control of quantum dissipative systems can be challenging because control variables are typically part of the system Hamiltonian, which can only generate motion along unitary orbits of the system. To transit between orbits, one must harness the dissipation super-operator. To separate the inter-orbit dynamics from the Hamiltonian dynamics for a generic two-dimensional system, we project the Lindblad master equation onto the set of spectra of the density matrix, and we interpret the location along the orbit to be a new control variable. The resulting differential equation allows us to analyze th…
Within the framework of the Lindblad master equation, we propose a general methodology to describe the effects of the environment on a system in dilute gas phase. The phenomenological parameters characterizing the transitions between rovibrational states of the system induced by collisions can be extracted from experimental transition kinetic constants, relying on Energy Gap fitting laws. As the availability of this kind of experimental data can be limited, the present work relied on experimental line broadening coefficients, however still using Energy Gap fitting laws. The 3 $μ$m infrared spe…
A single quantum dissipative oscillator described by the Lindblad equation serves as a model for a nanosystem. This model is solved exactly by using the ambiguity function. The solution shows the features of decoherence (spatial extent of quantum behavior), correlation (spatial scale over which the system localizes to its physical dimensions), and mixing (mixed- state spatial correlation). A new relation between these length scales is obtained here. By varying the parameters contained in the Lindblad equation, it is shown that decoherence and correlation can be controlled. We indicate possible…
In this work, we studied the relaxation dynamics of coherences of different order present in a system of two coupled nuclear spins. We used a previously designed model for intrinsic noise present in such systems which considers the Lindblad master equation for Markovian relaxation. We experimentally created zero-, single- and double- quantum coherences in several two-spin systems and performed a complete state tomography and computed state fidelity. We experimentally measured the decay of zero- and double- quantum coherences in these systems. The experimental data fitted well to a model that c…
A pair of coupled quantum dissipative oscillators, serving as a model for a nanosystem, is here described by the Lindblad equation. Its dynamic evolution is shown to exhibit the features of decoherence (spatial extent of quantum behavior), correlation (spatial scale over which the system localizes to its physical dimensions), and entanglement (a special quantum feature making its appearance first in such bipartite systems) as a function of the coupling constants of the Lindblad equation. One interesting feature emerging out of this calculation is that the entanglement may exhibit revivals in t…
We use the Bloch-Redfield-Wangsness theory to calculate the effects of acoustic phonons in coherent control experiments, where quantum-dot excitons are driven by shaped laser pulses. This theory yields a generalized Lindblad equation for the density operator of the dot, with time-dependent damping and decoherence due to phonon transitions between the instantaneous dressed states. It captures similar physics to the form recently applied to Rabi oscillation experiments [A. J. Ramsay et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 017402 (2010)], but guarantees positivity of the density operator. At sufficiently l…
Pair collisions in atomic gases lead to decoherence and decay. Assuming that all the atoms in the gas are equally likely to collide one is led to consider Lindbladian of mean field type where the evolution in the limit of many atoms reduces to a single qudit Lindbladian with quadratic non-linearity. We describe three smoking guns for non-linear evolutions: Power law decay and dephasing rates; Dephasing rates that take a continuous range of values depending on the initial data and finally, anomalous flow of the Bloch ball towards a hemisphere.
A Mean-Field Lindblad Master Equation Framework for Interaction-Driven Decoherence in Solid-State Qubit Ensembles
Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校化学系）；Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校安恩和H.J.斯米德航空航天工程科学）
We prove a generalization of the classic Groenewold-Lindblad entropy inequality, combining decoherence and the quantum Bayes theorem into a simple unified picture where decoherence increases entropy while observation decreases it. This provides a rigorous quantum-mechanical version of the second law of thermodynamics, governing how the entropy of a system (the entropy of its density matrix, partial-traced over the environment and conditioned on what is known) evolves under general decoherence and observation. The powerful tool of spectral majorization enables both simple alternative proofs of …
Decoherence of quantum systems from entanglement with an unmonitored environment is to date the most compelling explanation of the emergence of a classical picture from a quantum world. While it is well understood for a single Lindblad operator, the role in the einselection process of a complex system-environment interaction remains to be clarified. In this paper, we analyze an open quantum dynamics inspired by CQED experiments with two non-commuting Lindblad operators modeling decoherence in the number basis and dissipative decoherence in the coherent state basis. We study and solve exactly t…
Time-dependent density-matrix propagation is used to demonstrate, in a schematic model of an open quantum system, that the complex potential approach and the Lindblad dissipative dynamics are \emph{not} equivalent. While the former preserves coherence, it is destroyed in the Lindblad dissipative dynamics. Quantum decoherence is the key aspect that makes the difference between the two approaches, indicating that the complex potential model is inadequate for a consistent description of open quantum-system dynamics. It is suggested that quantum decoherence should always be explicitly included whe…
We derive the quantum master equations for heavy quark systems in a high-temperature quark- gluon plasma in the Lindblad form. The master equations are derived in the influence functional formalism for open quantum systems in perturbation theory. These master equations have a wide range of applications, such as decoherence of a heavy quarkonium and Langevin dynamics of a heavy quark in the quark-gluon plasma. We also show the equivalence between the quarkonium master equations in the recoilless limit and the Schroedinger equations with stochastic potential.
The Lindblad equation governs general markovian evolution of the density operator in an open quantum system. An expression for the rate of change of the Wigner function as a sum of integrals is one of the forms of the Weyl representation for this equation. The semiclassical description of the Wigner function in terms of chords, each with its classically defined amplitude and phase, is thus inserted in the integrals, which leads to an explicit differential equation for the Wigner function. All the Lindblad operators are assumed to be represented by smooth phase space functions corresponding to …
By using the complete solution of the Milburn equation (beyond the Lindblad form that it is generally used) that describes intrinsic decoherence, we study the decaying dynamics of a displaced harmonic oscillator. We calculate the expectation values of position quadrature, and the number operator in initial coherent and squeezed states.
A Breakdown Case Study of the Lindblad Approach via Entanglement and Purity
Università di Salerno, and INFN — Gruppo Collegato di Salerno（萨莱诺大学，意大利国家核物理研究所萨莱诺协作组）；University of Camerino（卡梅里诺大学）；Institut Ruđer Bošković（鲁德·博什科维奇研究所）
On the Complexity of Finding Decoherence Free Subspaces
Center for Quantum Information and Control, University of New Mexico（新墨西哥大学量子信息与控制中心）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico（新墨西哥大学物理与天文学系）
We consider an open quantum system described by a Lindblad-type master equation with two times-scales. The fast time-scale is strongly dissipative and drives the system towards a low-dimensional decoherence-free space. To perform the adiabatic elimination of this fast relaxation, we propose a geometric asymptotic expansion based on the small positive parameter describing the time-scale separation. This expansion exploits geometric singular perturbation theory and center-manifold techniques. We conjecture that, at any order, it provides an effective slow Lindblad master equation and a completel…
We investigate departures from the Hamiltonian dynamics such as the quantum decoherence in a supersymmetric quantum system due to its interaction with the environment. The effective description is given by the Franke-Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan (FGKLS) equation. The prescription for supersymmetrization of this equation is elaborated and pairs of related isospectral quantum systems are built. We present some instructive examples of such a construction.
It is shown how any Lindbladian evolution with selfadjoint Lindblad operators, either Markovian or nonMarkovian, can be understood as an averaged random unitary evolution. Both mathematical and physical consequences are analyzed. First a simple and fast method to solve this kind of master equations is suggested and particularly illustrated with the phase-damped master equation for the multiphoton resonant Jaynes-Cummings model in the rotating-wave approximation. A generalization to some intrinsic decoherence models present in the literature is included. Under the same philosophy a proposal to …
We consider the simple hypothesis of letting quantum systems have an inherent random nature. Using well-known stochastic methods we thus derive a stochastic evolution operator which let us define a stochastic density operator whose expectation value under certain conditions satisfies a Lindblad equation. As natural consequences of the former assumption decoherence and spontaneous emission processes are obtained under the same conceptual scheme. A temptative solution for the preferred basis problem is suggested. All this is illustrated with a comprehensive study of a two-level quantum system ev…
We analyze the set ${\cal A}_N^Q$ of mixed unitary channels represented in the Weyl basis and accessible by a Lindblad semigroup acting on an $N$-level quantum system. General necessary and sufficient conditions for a mixed Weyl quantum channel of an arbitrary dimension to be accessible by a semigroup are established. The set ${\cal A}_N^Q$ is shown to be log--convex and star-shaped with respect to the completely depolarizing channel. A decoherence supermap acting in the space of Lindblad operators transforms them into the space of Kolmogorov generators of classical semigroups. We show that fo…
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems, we determine the degree of quantum decoherence of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a thermal bath. It is found that the system manifests a quantum decoherence which is more and more significant in time. We calculate also the decoherence time scale and analyze the transition from quantum to classical behaviour of the considered system.
These lecture notes address an audience of physicists or mathematicians who have been exposed to a first course in quantum mechanics. We start with a brief discussion of the general "system-bath" paradigm of quantum dissipative systems, analyze in some detail the simplest example of "pure dephasing" of a two-level system, and review the basic concept of the density matrix. We then treat the general dissipative time-evolution, introducing completely positive maps, their relation to entanglement theory, and their Kraus decomposition. Restricting ourselves to Markovian evolution, we discuss the L…
We show that quantum properties of spacetime, encoded by noncommutativity at the Planck scale, lead to a generalized time evolution of quantum systems in which pure states can evolve into mixed states. Specifically, a decoherence mechanism is obtained in the form of a Lindblad-like time evolution for the density operator when the action of time translations generator is deformed by the effects of spacetime noncommutativity. The decoherence time for the evolution of a free particle is used to show that the Planck mass is the maximum allowed mass for elementary quantum systems.
With time-dependent Lindblad operators, an open system may have a time-dependent decoherence-free subspace (t-DFS). In this paper, we define the t-DFS and present a necessary and sufficient condition for the t-DFS. Two examples are presented to illustrate the t-DFS, showing that this t-DFS is not trivial, when the dimension of the t-DFS varies.
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems, we determine the degree of quantum decoherence of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a thermal bath. It is found that the system manifests a quantum decoherence which is more and more significant in time. We also calculate the decoherence time and show that it has the same scale as the time after which thermal fluctuations become comparable with quantum fluctuations.
Applying the Milburn equation to describe intrinsic decoherence, we study the interaction of three-coupled quantum harmonic oscillators or quantized fields. We give an explicit solution for the complete equation, i.e., beyond the usual second order approximation used to arrive to the Lindblad form. Then we calculate the expectation value of the number operator of each oscillator or mode for one of the modes given in an initial coherent
Schemes of gravitationally induced decoherence are being actively investigated as possible mechanisms for the quantum-to-classical transition. Here, we introduce a decoherence process due to quantum gravity effects. We assume a foamy quantum spacetime with a fluctuating minimal length coinciding on average with the Planck scale. Considering deformed canonical commutation relations with a fluctuating deformation parameter, we derive a Lindblad master equation that yields localization in energy space and decoherence times consistent with the currently available observational evidence. Compared t…
The current stage of quantum computing technology, called noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) technology, is characterized by large errors that prohibit it from being used for real applications. In these devices, decoherence, one of the main sources of error, is generally modeled by Markovian master equations such as the Lindblad master equation. In this work, the decoherence phenomena are addressed from the perspective of the steepest-entropy-ascent quantum thermodynamics (SEAQT) framework in which the noise is in part seen as internal to the system. The framework is as well used to descr…
We study three methods of obtaining an approximation of unitary evolution of a quantum system under decoherence. We use three methods of optimizing the control pulses: genetic optimization, approximate evolution method and approximate gradient method. To model the noise in the system we use the Lindblad equaiton. We obtain results showing that genetic optimization may give a better approximation of a unitary evolution in the case of high noise.
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems we determine the degree of quantum decoherence and classical correlations of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a thermal bath. The transition from quantum to classical behaviour of the considered system is analyzed and it is shown that the classicality takes place during a finite interval of time. We calculate also the decoherence time and show that it has the same scale as the time after which thermal fluctuations become comparable with quantum fluctuations.
A longstanding challenge in the foundations of quantum mechanics is the verification of alternative collapse theories despite their mathematical similarity to decoherence. To this end, we suggest a novel method based on dynamical decoupling. Experimental observation of nonzero saturation of the decoupling error in the limit of fast decoupling operations can provide evidence for alternative quantum theories. As part of the analysis we prove that unbounded Hamiltonians can always be decoupled, and provide novel dilations of Lindbladians.
It is by now well understood that quantum dissipative processes can be harnessed and turned into a resource for quantum-information processing tasks. In this paper we demonstrate yet another way in which this is true by providing a dissipation-assisted protocol for the simulation of general Markovian dynamics. More precisely, we show how a suitable coherent coupling of a quantum system to a set of Markovian dissipating qubits allows one to enact an effective Liouvillian generator of any Lindbladian form. This effective dynamical generator arises from high-order virtual-dissipative processes an…
The description of the dynamics of closed quantum systems, governed by the Schroedinger equation at first sight seems incompatible with the Lindblad equation describing open ones. By analyzing closed dynamics of a spin-1/2 chain we reconstruct exponential decays characteristic for the latter model. We identify all necessary ingredients to efficiently model this behavior, such as an infinitely large environment and the coupling to the system weak in comparison to the internal couplings in the bath.
We study the decoherence and the relaxation dynamics of topological states in an extended class of quantum Ising chains which can present a manyfold ground state subspace. The leading interaction of the spins with the environment is assumed to be the local fluctuations of the transverse magnetic field. By deriving the Lindblad equation using the many-body states, we investigate the relation between decoherence, energy relaxation and topology. In particular, in the topological phase and at low temperature, we analyze the dephasing rates between the different degenerate ground states.
Master equations govern the time evolution of a quantum system interacting with an environment, and may be written in a variety of forms. Time-independent or memoryless master equations, in particular, can be cast in the well-known Lindblad form. Any time-local master equation, Markovian or non-Markovian, may in fact also be written in a Lindblad-like form. A diagonalisation procedure results in a unique, and in this sense canonical, representation of the equation, which may be used to fully characterize the non-Markovianity of the time evolution. Recently, several different measures of non-Ma…
We investigate system-environment correlations based on the exact dynamics of a qubit and its environment in the framework of pure decoherence (phase damping). We focus on the relation of decoherence and the build-up of system-reservoir entanglement for an arbitrary (possibly mixed) initial qubit state. In the commonly employed regime where the qubit dynamics can be described by a Markov master equation of Lindblad type, we find that for almost all qubit initial states inside the Bloch sphere, decoherence is complete while the total state is still separable - no entanglement is involved. In ge…
For discrete-time systems, governed by Kraus maps, the work of D. Petz has characterized the set of universal contraction metrics. In the present paper, we use this characterization to derive a set of quadratic Lyapunov functions for continuous-time systems, governed by Lindblad differential equations, that have a steady-state with full rank. An extremity of this set is given by the Bures metric, for which the quadratic Lyapunov function is obtained by inverting a Sylvester equation. We illustrate the method by providing a strict Lyapunov function for a Lindblad equation designed to stabilize …
Open-system dynamics play a key role in the experimental and theoretical study of cavity optomechanical systems. In many cases, the quantum Langevin equations have enabled excellent models for optical decoherence, yet a master-equation approach to the fully nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian has thus far proven more elusive. To address this outstanding question and broaden the mathematical tool set available, we derive a solution to the Lindblad master equation that models optical decoherence for a system evolving with the nonlinear optomechanical Hamiltonian. The method combines a Lie-algeb…
In the framework of the Lindblad theory for open quantum systems, we derive closed analytical expressions of the Heisenberg and Schrödinger generalized uncertainty functions for a particle moving in a harmonic oscillator potential. The particle is initially in an arbitrary correlated coherent state, and interacts with an environment at finite temperature. We describe how the quantum and thermal fluctuations contribute to the uncertainties in the canonical variables of the system and analyze the relative importance of these fluctuations in the evolution of the system. We show that upon contact …
Noise-induced contraction of MPO truncation errors in noisy random circuits and Lindbladian dynamics
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland（量子信息与计算机科学联合中心，美国国家标准与技术研究院/马里兰大学）；Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland（联合量子研究所，美国国家标准与技术研究院/马里兰大学）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；Department of Physics, University of Basel（巴塞尔大学物理系）；Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen（哥本哈根大学数学科学系）
To understand typical dynamics of an open quantum system in continuous time, we introduce an ensemble of random Lindblad operators, which generate Markovian completely positive evolution in the space of density matrices. Spectral properties of these operators, including the shape of the spectrum in the complex plane, are evaluated by using methods of free probabilities and explained with non-Hermitian random matrix models. We also demonstrate universality of the spectral features. The notion of ensemble of random generators of Markovian qauntum evolution constitutes a step towards categorizati…
An important issue in developing quantum technology is that quantum states are so sensitive to noise. We propose a protocol that introduces reverse dynamics, in order to precisely control quantum systems against noise described by the Lindblad master equation. The reverse dynamics can be obtained by constructing the Petz recovery map in continuous time. By providing the exact form of the Hamiltonian and jump operators for the reverse dynamics, we explore the potential of utilizing the near-optimal recovery of the Petz map in controlling noisy quantum dynamics. While time-dependent dissipation …
In the framework of Lindblad theory for open quantum systems, we calculate the entropy of a damped quantum harmonic oscillator which is initially in a quasi-free state. The maximally predictable states are identified as those states producing the minimum entropy increase after a long enough time. In general, the states with a squeezing parameter depending on the environment's diffusion coefficients and friction constant are singled out, but if the friction constant is much smaller than the oscillator's frequency, coherent states (or thermalized coherent states) are obtained as the preferred cl…
Neutrinos lose coherence as they propagate, which leads to the fading away of oscillations. In this work, we model neutrino decoherence induced in open quantum systems from their interaction with the environment. We first present two different models in the quantum mechanical framework, in which the environment is modeled as forced harmonic oscillators with white noise interactions, or two-level systems with stochastic phase kicks. We then look at the decoherence process in the quantum field theoretic framework induced by elastic scatterings with environmental particles. The exponential decay …
This paper is devoted to the study of behavior of open quantum systems consistently based on the Franke-Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan (FGKLS) equation which covers evolution in situations when decoherence can be distinguished. We focus on the quantum measurement operation which is determined by final stationary states of an open system - so called pointers. We find pointers by applying the FGKLS equation to asymptotically constant density matrix. In seeking pointers, we have been able to propose a perturbative scheme of calculation, if we take the interaction components with an environ…
We study standard quantum teleportation of one-qubit state for the situation in which the channel is subject to decoherence, and where the evolution of the channel state is ruled by a master equation in the Lindblad form. A detailed calculation reveals that the quality of teleportation is determined by both the entanglement and the purity of the channel state, and only the optimal matching of them ensures the highest fidelity of standard quantum teleportation. Also our results demonstrated that the decoherence induces distortion of the Bloch sphere for the output state with different rates in …
