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arXiv:0912.4654 · Physical Review A

Decoherence and entanglement dynamics in fluctuating fields

Julius Helm, Walter T. Strunz

Published Apr 21, 2010• 25 citations
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Abstract

We study pure phase damping of two qubits due to fluctuating fields. As frequently employed, decoherence is thus described in terms of random unitary (RU) dynamics, that is, a convex mixture of unitary transformations. Based on a separation of the dynamics into an average Hamiltonian and a noise channel, we are able to analytically determine the evolution of both entanglement and purity. This enables us to characterize the dynamics in a concurrence-purity (CP) diagram: We find that RU phase-damping dynamics sets constraints on accessible regions in the CP plane. We show that initial state and dynamics contribute to final entanglement independently.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.81.042314

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We study pure phase damping of two qubits due to fluctuating fields. As frequently employed, decoherence is thus described in terms of random unitary (RU) dynamics, that is, a convex mixture of unitary transformations. Based on a separation of the dynamics into an average Hamiltonian and a noise channel, we are able to analytically determine the evolution of both entanglement and purity. This enables us to characterize the dynamics in a concurrence-purity (CP) diagram: We find that RU phase-damping dynamics sets constraints on accessible regions in the CP plane. We show that initial state and dynamics contribute to final entanglement independently.
It is commonly stated that decoherence in open quantum systems is due to growing entanglement with an environment. In practice, however, surprisingly often decoherence may equally well be described by random unitary dynamics without invoking a quantum environment at all. For a single qubit, for instance, pure decoherence (or phase damping) is always of random unitary type. Here, we construct a simple example of true quantum decoherence of two qubits: we present a feasible phase damping channel of which we show that it cannot be understood in terms of random unitary dynamics. We give a very intuitive geometrical measure for the positive distance of our channel to the convex set of random unitary channels and find remarkable agreement with the so-called Birkhoff defect based on the norm of complete boundedness.
We systematically characterize quantum entanglement in all sixteen combinations of two-qubit Bell states across three operational regimes: pure superposition, noiseless mixing, and asymmetric mixing of one noisy and one pure Bell state. For pure superpositions, we calculate the von Neumann entropy and show that entanglement depends critically on the relative phase phi between superposed states. For mixed states, we use concurrence C under three physically motivated decoherence channels. The Depolarizing (DP) and Phase Damping (PD) channels are modeled as global, collective operations on the two-qubit Hilbert space, while Amplitude Damping (AD) is treated as independent local decay on each qubit, reflecting the asymmetric, energy-dissipating nature of spontaneous emission. A central and counterintuitive result is that increasing noise can raise concurrence in specific parameter regimes across all three channels. We further map the boundary between mathematical entanglement (C > 0) and operational quantum non-locality using the Horodecki criterion, finding this boundary to be strongly channel-dependent. Under Phase Damping, the Bell-local entanglement regime vanishes entirely for identical and same-bases mixtures, meaning any surviving entanglement guarantees a CHSH violation. Under Depolarizing noise, a large Bell-local region requires mixing probability r > 1/sqrt(2) to recover non-locality at maximum noise. For Amplitude Damping, certain mixtures exhibit a non-monotonic Horodecki parameter M(T): concurrence decreases monotonically with noise, yet the capacity for CHSH violation is lost at intermediate noise levels and restored at high noise, as maximal damping repurifies the noisy branch. These results provide a unified analytical reference for entanglement and non-locality management across Bell-state combinations and decoherence channels relevant to NISQ architectures.
Surprisingly often decoherence is due to classical fluctuations of ambient fields and may thus be described in terms of random unitary (RU) dynamics. However, there are decoherence channels where such a representation cannot exist. Based on a simple and intuitive geometric measure for the distance of an extremal channel to the convex set of RU channels we are able to characterize the set of true quantum phase-damping channels. Remarkably, using the Caley-Menger determinant, our measure may be assessed directly from the matrix representation of the channel. We find that the channel of maximum quantumness is closely related to a symmetric, informationally complete positive operator-valued measure on the environment. Our findings are in line with numerical results based on the entanglement of assistance.
The evolution of two qubits coupled by a general nonlocal interaction is studied in two distinct regimes. In the first regime the purity of the individual qubits is interchanged through the entanglement shared by the two. We illustrate how this can be a mechanism for decoherence. In the second regime, the interaction entangles two initially pure qubits. The dynamical maps for the reduced unitary evolution of both initially simply separable and not-simply-separable states are found. We outline a protocol for optimizing the entanglement generation subject to constraints.
Control of purity and entanglement of two two-qubits dispersively coupled to a field with a reservoir are investigated. Initially the qubits are entangled, while the field is either in a coherent state or a statistical mixture of two coherent states. For an alternative entanglement measure we calculate the negativity of the eigenvalues of the partially transposed density matrix. A measure related to the mutual entropy, namely the index of entropy, is employed to measure the entanglement. Its results agree well with the negativity. It is found that the entanglement and purity have strong sensitivity to phase damping. The asymptotic behaviour of the states of the field, the two two-qubits, and the total system fall into mixed states.