We compare two different approaches to the control of the dynamics of a continuously monitored open quantum system. The first is Markovian feedback as introduced in quantum optics by Wiseman and Milburn [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 70}, 548 (1993)]. The second is feedback based on an estimate of the system state, developed recently by Doherty {\em et al.} [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 62}, 012105 (2000)]. Here we choose to call it, for brevity, {\em Bayesian feedback}. For systems with nonlinear dynamics, we expect these two methods of feedback control to give markedly different results. The simplest possible nonlinear system is a driven and damped two-level atom, so we choose this as our model system. The monitoring is taken to be homodyne detection of the atomic fluorescence, and the control is by modulating the driving. The aim of the feedback in both cases is to stabilize the internal state of the atom as close as possible to an arbitrarily chosen pure state, in the presence of inefficient detection and other forms of decoherence. Our results (obtain without recourse to stochastic simulations) prove that Bayesian feedback is never inferior, and is usually superior, to Markovian feedback. However it would be far more difficult to implement than Markovian feedback and it loses its superiority when obvious simplifying approximations are made. It is thus not clear which form of feedback would be better in the face of inevitable experimental imperfections.
The interrelationship between the non-Markovian stochastic Schrödinger equations and the corresponding non-Markovian master equations is investigated in the finite temperature regimes. We show that the general finite temperature non-Markovian trajectories can be used to derive the corresponding non-Markovian master equations. A simple, yet important solvable example is the well-known damped harmonic oscillator model in which a harmonic oscillator is coupled to a finite temperature reservoir in the rotating wave approximation. The exact convolutionless master equation for the damped harmonic os…
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 …
We analyze non-Markovian evolution of open quantum systems. It is shown that any dynamical map representing evolution of such a system may be described either by non-local master equation with memory kernel or equivalently by equation which is local in time. These two descriptions are complementary: if one is simple the other is quite involved, or even singular, and vice versa. The price one pays for the local approach is that the corresponding generator keeps the memory about the starting point `t_0'. This is the very essence of non-Markovianity. Interestingly, this generator might be highly …
We introduce a classification scheme for the generators of open fermionic Gaussian dynamics. We simultaneously partition the dynamics along the following four lines: (1) unitary versus non-unitary, (2) active versus passive, (3) state-dependent versus state-independent, and (4) single-mode versus multi-mode. We find that only nine of these 16 types of dynamics are possible. Using this partition we discuss the consequences of imposing complete positivity on fermionic Gaussian dynamics. In particular, we show that completely positive dynamics must be either unitary (and so can be implemented wit…
By use of the two measures presented recently, the indivisibility and the backflow of information, we study the non-Markovianity of the dynamics for a two-level system interacting with a zero-temperature structured environment without using rotating wave approximation (RWA). In the limit of weak coupling between the system and the reservoir, and by expanding the time-convolutionless (TCL) generator to the forth order with respect to the coupling strength, the time-local non-Markovian master equation for the reduced state of the system is derived. Under the secular approximation, the exact anal…
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 the exact reduced dynamics of a two-level system coupled to a bosonic reservoir, further obtaining the exact time-convolutionless and Nakajima-Zwanzig non-Markovian equations of motion. The considered system includes the damped and undamped Jaynes-Cummings model. The result is obtained by exploiting an expression of quantum maps in terms of matrices and a simple relation between the time evolution map and time-convolutionless generator as well as Nakajima-Zwanzig memory kernel. This non-perturbative treatment shows that each operator contribution in Lindblad form appearing in the e…
Motivated by recent numerous works on the interplay among various measures of quantum correlations, we aim to investigate the relationship between the violation of Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality and geometric measure of quantum discord for two-qubit systems. Exact lower and upper bounds of Bell violation versus geometric discord are obtained for a specific and significant class of states, Bell diagonal states, and the respective states which suffice those bounds are also characterized. The dynamical behavior of these two quantifiers is carefully analyzed in the presence of d…
We present two different methods for modelling non-Markovian quantum light-matter interactions in waveguide QED systems, using matrix product states (MPSs) and a space-discretized waveguide (SDW) model. After describing the general theory and implementation of both approaches, we compare and contrast these methods directly on three topical problems of interest in waveguide-QED, including (i) a two-level system (TLS) coupled to an infinite (one-dimensional) waveguide, (ii) a TLS coupled to a terminated waveguide with a time-delayed coherent feedback, and (iii) two spatially separated TLSs coupl…
Dissipation- versus Chaos-Induced Relaxation in Non-Markovian Quantum Many-Body Systems
Universidade de Lisboa（里斯本大学）；Beijing Computational Science Research Center（北京计算科学研究中心）；Technische Universität Dresden（德累斯顿工业大学）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）
We study the robustness of a fault-tolerant quantum computer subject to Gaussian non-Markovian quantum noise, and we show that scalable quantum computation is possible if the noise power spectrum satisfies an appropriate "threshold condition." Our condition is less sensitive to very-high-frequency noise than previously derived threshold conditions for non-Markovian noise.
We compare the accuracy, precision and reliability of different methods for estimating key system parameters for two-level systems subject to Hamiltonian evolution and decoherence. It is demonstrated that the use of Bayesian modelling and maximum likelihood estimation is superior to common techniques based on Fourier analysis. Even for simple two-parameter estimation problems, the Bayesian approach yields higher accuracy and precision for the parameter estimates obtained. It requires less data, is more flexible in dealing with different model systems, can deal better with uncertainty in initia…
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…
As quantum systems expand in size and complexity, manual qubit characterization and gate optimization will be a non-scalable and time-consuming venture. Physical qubits have to be carefully calibrated because quantum processors are very sensitive to the external environment, with control hardware parameters slowly drifting during operation, affecting gate fidelity. Currently, existing calibration techniques require complex and lengthy measurements to independently control the different parameters of each gate and are unscalable to large quantum systems. Therefore, fully automated protocols wit…
We analyze the difference between ex ante and ex post equilibria in classical games played with the assistance of a nonlocal (quantum or no-signaling) resource. In physics, the playing of these games is known as performing bipartite Bell-type experiments. By analyzing the Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt game, we find a constructive procedure to find two-person Bayesian games with a nonlocal (i.e. no-signaling, and, in many cases, quantum) advantage. Most games of this kind known from the literature can be constructed along this principle, and share the property that their relevant ex ante equilibria…
We propose a scheme to characterize the non-Markovian dynamics and quantify the non-Markovianity via the non-classicality measured by the negativity of quantumness. By considering a qubit in contact with a critical Ising spin bath and introducing an ancilla, we show that revivals of negativity of quantumness indicate the non-Markovian dynamics. Furthermore, a normalized measure of non-Markovianity based on the negativity of quantumness is introduced and the influences of bath criticality, bath temperature and bath size on the non-Markovianity are discussed. It is shown that, at the critical po…
The Leggett-Garg inequalities impose restrictions on the values taken by some combinations of the two-time correlation functions of observables in order to be explainable by a noninvasive-realist classical model. While in the unitary dynamics, it is straightforward to compute these correlation functions, open system effects bring in subtleties. Specifically, for non-Markovian dynamics, which involves setting up of system-bath correlations, the Leggett-Garg measurements disrupt these correlations, making a full system-bath Hamiltonian approach natural. However, here we point out that the proble…
The quantum Zeno effect is well-known for fixing a system to an eigenstate by frequent measurements. It is also known that applying frequent unitary pulses induces a Zeno subspace that can also pin the system to an eigenspace. Both approaches have been studied as means to maintain a system in a certain subspace. Extending the two concepts, we consider making the measurements/pulses dynamical so that the state can move with the motion of the measurement axis/pulse basis. We show that the system stays in the dynamical eigenbasis when the measurements/pulses are slowly changing. Explicit bounds f…
Most literature on quantum collision models (CMs) usually considers periodic weak collisions featuring a fixed waiting time between two next collisions. Some works have yet addressed CMs with random waiting time and strong collisions (stochastic CMs). This short paper discusses how the open dynamics arising from these two types of models can be formally mapped with one another. This can be achieved for a given stochastic CM by constructing an associated periodic CM such that the waiting time randomness of the former is turned into the mixedness of the ancilla's initial state of the latter, int…
Parameter Estimation in a Continuously Monitored Non-Markovian Quantum System
Technische Universität Wien（维也纳工业大学）；Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院量子光学与量子信息研究所）；University of Basel（巴塞尔大学）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉帕鲁纳大学）
A long standing open problem whether a heat engine with finite power achieves the Carnot efficiency is investigated. We rigorously prove a general trade-off inequality on thermodynamic efficiency and time interval of a cyclic process with quantum heat engines. In a first step, employing the Lieb-Robinson bound we establish an inequality on the change in a local observable caused by an operation far from support of the local observable. This inequality provides a rigorous characterization of the following intuitive picture that most of the energy released from the engine to the cold bath remain…
We bring a Bayesian approach to the analysis of clocks. Using exponential distributions as priors for clocks, we analyze how well one can keep time with a single qubit freely precessing under a magnetic field. We find that, at least with a single qubit, quantum mechanics does not allow exact timekeeping, in contrast to classical mechanics which does. We find the design of the single-qubit clock that leads to maximum accuracy. Further, we find an energy versus accuracy tradeoff --- the energy cost is at least $k_BT$ times the improvement in accuracy as measured by the entropy reduction in going…
We study the possibility of enhancing the stationary entanglement achievable with two-qubit dissipating into a common environment by means of feedback. We contrast the effect of Markovian with Bayesian feedback and show that, depending on the initial state, the performance of the latter are from 16% to 33% superior.
System versus charger in performance optimization of quantum batteries
Bar-Ilan University（巴伊兰大学）；Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University)（印度理工学院（贝拿勒斯印度教大学））；Harish-Chandra Research Institute, A CI of Homi Bhabha National Institute（哈里什-昌德拉研究所，霍米·巴巴国立学院成员机构）
We consider the system identification problem of estimating a dynamical parameter of a Markovian quantum open system (the atom maser), by performing continuous time measurements in the system's output (outgoing atoms). Two estimation methods are investigated and compared. On the one hand, the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) takes into account the full measurement data and is asymptotically optimal in terms of its mean square error. On the other hand, the `likelihood-free' method of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) produces an approximation of the posterior distribution for a given set…
