We study the possibility to undo the quantum mechanical evolution in a time reversal experiment. The naive expectation, as reflected in the common terminology ("Loschmidt echo"), is that maximum compensation results if the reversed dynamics extends to the same time as the forward evolution. We challenge this belief, and demonstrate that the time $t_r$ for maximum return probability is in general shorter. We find that $t_r$ depends on $lambda = eps_evol/eps_prep$, being the ratio of the error in setting the parameters (fields) for the time reversed evolution to the perturbation which is involved in the preparation process. Our results should be observable in spin-echo experiments where the dynamical irreversibility of quantum phases is measured.
In Echo experiments, imperfect time-reversal operations are performed on a subset of the total number of degrees of freedom. To capture the physics of these experiments, we introduce a partial fidelity, the Boltzmann echo, where only part of the system's degrees of freedom can be time-reversed. We present a semiclassical calculation of the Boltzmann echo. We show that, as the time-reversal operation is performed more and more accurately, the decay rate of the Boltzmann echo saturates at a value given by the decoherence rate of the controlled degrees of freedom due to their coupling to uncontro…
In spin systems, the decay of the Loschmidt echo in the time-reversal experiment (evolution, perturbation, time-reversed evolution) is linked to the generation of multiple-quantum coherences. The approach is extended to other systems, and the general problem of reversibility of quantum dynamics is analyzed.
The Loschmidt Echo M(t) (defined as the squared overlap of wave packets evolving with two slightly different Hamiltonians) is a measure of quantum reversibility. We investigate its behavior for classically quasi-integrable systems. A dominant regime emerges where M(t) ~ t^{-alpha} with alpha=3d/2 depending solely on the dimension d of the system. This power law decay is faster than the result ~ t^{-d} for the decay of classical phase space densities.
The Loschmidt echo is a measure of the stability and reversibility of quantum evolution under perturbations of the Hamiltonian. One of the expected and most relevant characteristics of this quantity for chaotic systems is an exponential decay with a perturbation independent decay rate given by the classical Lyapunov exponent. However, a non-uniform decay -- instead of the Lyapunov regime -- has been reported in several systems. In this work we find an analytical semiclassical expression for the averaged fidelity amplitude that can be related directly to the anomalous -- unexpected-- behaviour …
We consider the degradation of the dynamics of a Gaussian wave packet in a harmonic oscillator under the presence of an environment. This last is given by a single non-degenerate two level system. We analyze how the binary degree of freedom perturbs the free evolution of the wave packet producing decoherence, which is quantified by the Loschmidt Echo. This magnitude measures the reversibility of a perturbed quantum evolution. In particular, we use it here to study the relative "fragility" of coherent superpositions (cat states) with respect to incoherent ones. This fragility or sensitivity tur…
There is a constraining relation between the reliability of a quantum measurement and the extent to which the measurement process is, in principle, reversible. The greater the information that is gained, the less reversible the measurement dynamics become. To illustrate this relation, we develop a simple physical model for quantum measurement, as well as a hypothetical scheme by which the experimenters can determine the reliability and reversibility. We derive an "uncertainty" (constraining) relation between reliability and reversibility, which holds even when there is no interaction with any …
We present a quantitative analysis of the reversibility properties of classically chaotic quantum motion. We analyze the connection between reversibility and the rate at which a quantum state acquires a more and more complicated structure in its time evolution. This complexity is characterized by the number ${\cal M}(t)$ of harmonics of the (initially isotropic, i.e. ${\cal M}(0)=0$) Wigner function, which are generated during quantum evolution for the time $t$. We show that, in contrast to the classical exponential increase, this number can grow not faster than linearly and then relate this f…
We study the stability of entanglement in a quantum computer implementing an efficient quantum algorithm, which simulates a quantum chaotic dynamics. For this purpose, we perform a forward-backward evolution of an initial state in which two qubits are in a maximally entangled Bell state. If the dynamics is reversed after an evolution time $t_r$, there is an echo of the entanglement between these two qubits at time $t_e=2t_r$. Perturbations attenuate the pairwise entanglement echo and generate entanglement between these two qubits and the other qubits of the quantum computer.
Using semiclassical methods, it is possible to construct very accurate approximations in the short wavelength limit of quantum dynamics that rely exclusively on classical dynamical input. For systems whose classical realization is strongly chaotic, there is an exceedingly short logarithmic Ehrenfest time scale, beyond which the quantum and classical dynamics of a system necessarily diverge, and yet the semiclassical construction remains valid far beyond that time. This fact leads to a paradox if one ponders the reversibility and predictability properties of quantum and classical mechanics. The…
We consider the transformation of multisystem entangled states by local quantum operations and classical communication. We show that, for any reversible transformation, the relative entropy of entanglement for two parties must remain constant. This shows, for example, that it is not possible to convert 2N three party GHZ states into 3N singlets, even in an asymptotic sense. Thus there is true three-party non-locality (i.e., not all three-party entanglement is equivalent to two-party entanglement). Our results also allow us to make {\em quantitative} statements about concentrating multi-particl…
It has been recently proved that a quantum jump may be reversed by a unitary process provided the initial state is restricted by some conditions. The application of such processes for preventing decoherence, for example in quantum computers, was suggested. We shall show that in the situation when the quantum jump is reversible it supplies no information about the initial state additional to the information known beforehand. Therefore the reversibility of this type does not contradict the general statement of quantum measurement theory: a measurement cannot be reversed. As a consequence of this…
We argue that if, in order to reverse an object's dynamics, we need to be able to keep track of it with enough precision, then there is an upper bound on the size of the object whose dynamics we can reverse - even using all the available resources of the universe. Using a bound from the holographic principle and treating the universe as the ultimate quantum computer, we show that if we want to reverse the dynamics of an object which has evolved since the beginning of time, its radius cannot exceed ten microns. If this computation is performed irreversibly, the object must be much smaller. This…
We investigate the dephasing of ultra cold ^{85}Rb atoms trapped in an optical dipole trap and prepared in a coherent superposition of their two hyperfine ground states by interaction with a microwave pulse. We demonstrate that the dephasing, measured as the Ramsey fringe contrast, can be reversed by stimulating a coherence echo with a pi-pulse between the two pi/2 pulses, in analogy to the photon echo. We also demonstrate that the failure of the echo for certain trap parameters is due to dynamics in the trap, and thereby that ''echo spectroscopy'' can be used to study the quantum dynamics in …
Quantum measurement is a basic tool to manifest intrinsic quantum effects from fundamental tests to quantum information applications. While a measurement is typically performed to gain information on a quantum state, its role in quantum technology is indeed manifold. For instance, quantum measurement is a crucial process element in measurement-based quantum computation. It is also used to detect and correct errors thereby protecting quantum information in error-correcting frameworks. It is therefore important to fully characterize the roles of quantum measurement encompassing information gain,…
Collective behavior where a set of elements interact and generate effects that are beyond the reach of the individual non interacting elements, are always of great interest in physics. Quantum collective effects that have no classical analogue are even more intriguing. In this work we show how to construct collective quantum heat machines and explore their performance boosts with respect to regular machines. Without interactions between the machines the individual units operate in a stochastic, non-quantum manner. The construction of the collective machine becomes possible by introducing two s…
As the number of qubits available on noisy quantum computers grows, it will become necessary to efficiently select a subset of physical qubits to use in a quantum computation. For any given quantum program and device there are many ways to assign physical qubits for execution of the program, and assignments will differ in performance due to the variability in quality across qubits and entangling operations on a single device. Evaluating the performance of each assignment using fidelity estimation introduces significant experimental overhead and will be infeasible for many applications, while r…
We analyze the relationship between qubit-environment entanglement that can be created during the pure dephasing of the qubit and the effectiveness of the spin echo protocol. We focus here on mixed states of the environment. We show that while the echo protocol can obviously counteract classical environmental noise, it can also undo dephasing associated with qubit-environment entanglement, and there is no obvious difference in its efficiency in these two cases. Additionally, we show that qubit-environment entanglement can be generated at the end of the echo protocol even when it is absent at t…
Spin echo can be used to refocus random dynamical phases caused by inhomogeneities in control fields and thereby retain the purity of a spatial distribution of quantum spins. This technique for accurate spin control is an essential ingredient in many applications, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, magnetic resonance imaging, and quantum information processing. Here, we show how all the elements of a spin echo sequence can be performed at high speed by means of transitionsless quantum driving. This technique promises accurate control of rapid quantum spin evolution. We apply the scheme to uni…
A broadband quantum echo effect in a three level $\varLambda$-type system interacting with two laser fields is investigated theoretically. Inspired by the emerging field of nuclear quantum optics which typically deals with very narrow resonances, we consider broadband probe pulses that couple to the system in the presence of an inhomogeneous control field. We show that such a setup provides an all-electromagnetic-field solution to implement high bandwidth photon echoes, which are easy to control, store and shape on a short time scale and therefore may speed up future photonic information proce…
Echo protocols provide a means to investigate the arrow of time in macroscopic processes. Starting from a nonequilibrium state, the many-body quantum system under study is evolved for a certain period of time $τ$. Thereafter, an (effective) time reversal is performed that would -- if implemented perfectly -- take the system back to the initial state after another time period $τ$. Typical examples are nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and polarization echo experiments. The presence of small, uncontrolled inaccuracies during the backward propagation results in deviations of the "echo signal" fr…
We investigate the decoherence of Er$^{3+}$ in Y$_2$SiO$_5$ at low magnetic fields using the photon-echo technique. We reproduce accurately a variety of the decay curves with a unique coherence time by considering the so-called superhyperfine modulation induced by a large number of neighbouring spins. There is no need to invoke any characteristic time of the spin fluctuations to reproduce very different decay curves. The number of involved nuclei increases when the magnetic is lowered. The experiment is compared with a model associating 100 surrounding ions with their exact positions in the cr…
Central spin decoherence is useful for detecting many-body physics in environments and moreover, the spin echo control can remove the effects of static thermal fluctuations so that the quantum fluctuations are revealed. The central spin decoherence approach, however, is feasible only in some special configurations and often requires uniform coupling between the central spin and individual spins in the baths, which are very challenging in experiments. Here, by making analogue between central spin decoherence and depolarization of photons, we propose a scheme of Faraday rotation echo spectroscop…
We show that the fluctuations of quantum fields as seen by late comoving observers are significantly influenced by the history of the early Universe, and therefore they transmit information about the nature of spacetime in timescales when quantum gravitational effects were non-negligible. We discuss how this may be observable even nowadays, and thus used to build falsifiability tests of quantum gravity theories.
Adiabaticity of quantum evolution is important in many settings. One example is the adiabatic quantum computation. Nevertheless, up to now, there is no effective method to test the adiabaticity of the evolution when the eigenenergies of the driven Hamiltonian are not known. We propose a simple method to check adiabaticity of a quantum process for an arbitrary quantum system. We further propose a operational method for finding a uniformly adiabatic quench scheme based on Kibble-Zurek mechanism for the case when the initial and the final Hamiltonians are given. This method should help in impleme…
The out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOC) and the Loschmidt echo are two measures that are now widely being explored to characterize sensitivity to perturbations and information scrambling in complex quantum systems. Studying few qubits systems collectively modelled as a kicked top, we solve exactly the three- and four- qubit cases, giving analytical results for the OTOC and the Loschmidt echo. While we may not expect such few-body systems to display semiclassical features, we find that there are clear signatures of the exponential growth of OTOC even in systems with as low as 4 qubits in app…
We explain and exploit the random matrix formulation of the Loschmidt echo for the XX spin chain, valid for multiple domain wall initial states and also for a XX spin chain generalized with additional interactions to more neighbours. For models with interactions decaying as $e^{-α\left\vert l-j\right\vert }/\left\vert l-j\right\vert ^{p+1}$, with $p$ integer or natural number and $α\geq 0$, we show that there are third order phase transitions in a double scaling limit of the complex-time Loschmidt echo amplitudes. For the long-range version of the chain, we use an exact result for Toeplitz det…
Gamow vectors have been developed in order to give a mathematical description for quantum decay phenomena. Mainly, they have been applied to radioactive phenomena, scattering and to some decoherence models. They play a crucial role in the description of quantum irreversible processes, and in the formulation of time asymmetry in quantum mechanics. In this paper, we use this formalism to describe a well-known phenomenon of irreversibility: the Loschmidt echo. The standard approach considers that the irreversibility of this phenomenon is the result of an additional term in the backward Hamiltonia…
We investigate the effect of marginality on the ground state fidelity and Loschmidt echo. For this purpose, we study the above quantities near the quantum critical point (QCP) of the two-dimensional (2-D) Dirac Hamiltonian in the presence of a mass term which is tuned to zero at the Dirac point. An ideal example would be that of the low-energy carriers in graphene in which a mass term opens up a band gap. This happens to be a marginal situation where the behavior of the fidelity and the echo is markedly different as compared to that in the one-dimensional case. We encounter this marginal behav…
We identify a signature of quantum gravitational effects that survives from the early universe to the current era: Fluctuations of quantum fields as seen by comoving observers are significantly influenced by the history of the early universe. In particular we show how the existence (or not) of a quantum bounce leaves a trace in the background quantum noise that is not damped and would be non-negligible even nowadays. Furthermore, we estimate an upper bound for the typical energy and length scales where quantum effects are relevant. We discuss how this signature might be observed and therefore …
Quantum unitary evolution typically leads to thermalization of generic interacting many-body systems. There are very few known general methods for reversing this process, and we focus on the magic echo, a radio-frequency pulse sequence known to approximately "rewind" the time evolution of dipolar coupled homonuclear spin systems in a large magnetic field. By combining analytic, numerical, and experimental results we systematically investigate factors leading to the degradation of magic echoes, as observed in reduced revival of mean transverse magnetization. Going beyond the conventional analys…
