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arXiv:1012.5067 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Non-Markovian dynamics and entanglement of two-level atoms in a common field

Christen H. Fleming, Nick Cummings, Charis Anastopoulos, B. L. Hu

Published Jan 19, 2012• 30 citations
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Abstract

We derive the stochastic equations and consider the non-Markovian dynamics of a system of multiple two-level atoms in a common quantum field. We make only the dipole approximation for the atoms and assume weak atom–field interactions. From these assumptions, we use a combination of non-secular open- and closed-system perturbation theory, and we abstain from any additional approximation schemes. These more accurate solutions are necessary to explore several regimes: in particular, near-resonance dynamics and low-temperature behavior. In detuned atomic systems, small variations in the system energy levels engender timescales which, in general, cannot be safely ignored, as would be the case in the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). More problematic are the second-order solutions, which, as has been recently pointed out (Fleming and Cummings 2011 Phys. Rev. E 83 031117), cannot be accurately calculated using any second-order perturbative master equation, such as RWA, Born–Markov, Redfield, etc. The latter problem, which applies to all perturbative open-system master equations, has a profound effect upon calculation of entanglement at low temperatures. We find that even at zero temperature all initial states will undergo finite-time disentanglement (sometimes termed ‘sudden death’), in contrast to the previous work. We also use our solution, without invoking the RWA, to characterize the necessary conditions for Dicke subradiance at finite temperature. We find that the sub-radiant states fall into two categories at finite temperature: one that is temperature independent and one that acquires temperature dependence. With the RWA, there is no temperature dependence in any case.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/45/6/065301

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We derive the stochastic equations and consider the non-Markovian dynamics of a system of multiple two-level atoms in a common quantum field. We make only the dipole approximation for the atoms and assume weak atom–field interactions. From these assumptions, we use a combination of non-secular open- and closed-system perturbation theory, and we abstain from any additional approximation schemes. These more accurate solutions are necessary to explore several regimes: in particular, near-resonance dynamics and low-temperature behavior. In detuned atomic systems, small variations in the system energy levels engender timescales which, in general, cannot be safely ignored, as would be the case in the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). More problematic are the second-order solutions, which, as has been recently pointed out (Fleming and Cummings 2011 Phys. Rev. E 83 031117), cannot be accurately calculated using any second-order perturbative master equation, such as RWA, Born–Markov, Redfield, etc. The latter problem, which applies to all perturbative open-system master equations, has a profound effect upon calculation of entanglement at low temperatures. We find that even at zero temperature all initial states will undergo finite-time disentanglement (sometimes termed ‘sudden death’), in contrast to the previous work. We also use our solution, without invoking the RWA, to characterize the necessary conditions for Dicke subradiance at finite temperature. We find that the sub-radiant states fall into two categories at finite temperature: one that is temperature independent and one that acquires temperature dependence. With the RWA, there is no temperature dependence in any case.
We consider the time evolution of quantum entanglement in the context of interactions between atoms and the electromagnetic field. We explore the influence of interatomic separation and the degree to which this can change the qualitative character of those dynamics, including entanglement generation, protection, and sudden death (SD). We find that the qualitative features of entanglement dynamics can be changed entirely in few-mode models when atomic spacing is varied, allowing for particular choices of configuration that are favorable for maintaining entanglement. We also examine the inaccuracies introduced by the use of common approximations: We characterize unexpected errors that result from using perturbative master equations as well as those that result from using the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). We find that in dissipative systems the errors introduced by these approximations can lead to an incorrect picture of late-time dynamics. Standard perturbative master equations using the RWA are constrained to predict that late-time SD occurs to only some initial states at zero temperature, but this is merely an artifact of those approximation and generally not correct. The same master equations predict that at finite temperature all states are separable asymptotically at late times and must undergo SD. In fact a proper accounting of environmentally-induced corrections to the steady state of the system shows that for low temperatures it is possible to have asymptotic entanglement in some cases. We derive a master equation for two atoms interacting with the free field without using the RWA and solve it to obtain the dynamics, including the effects of distance. From these dynamics we find that, in fact, all initial states of atoms separated by any positive distance undergo SD even at zero temperature, though there are sub-radiant states that can be quite long-lived for closely spaced atoms.
An open quantum system is a quantum system that interacts with some environment whose degrees of freedom have been coarse grained away. This model describes non-equilibrium processes more general than scattering-matrix formulations. Furthermore, the microscopically-derived environment provides a model of noise, dissipation and decoherence far more general than Markovian (white noise) models. The latter are fully characterized by Lindblad equations and can be motivated phenomenologically. Non-Markovian processes consistently account for backreaction with the environment and can incorporate effects such as finite temperature and spatial correlations. We consider linear systems with bilinear coupling to the environment, or quantum Brownian motion, and nonlinear systems with weak coupling to the environment. For linear systems we provide exact solutions with analytical results for a variety of spectral densities. Furthermore, we point out an important mathematical subtlety which led to incorrect master-equation coefficients in earlier derivations, given nonlocal dissipation. For nonlinear systems we provide perturbative solutions by translating the formalism of canonical perturbation theory into the context of master equations. It is shown that unavoidable degeneracy causes an unfortunate reduction in accuracy between perturbative master equations and their solutions. We also extend the famous theorem of Lindblad, Gorini, Kossakowski and Sudarshan on completely positivity to non-Markovian master equations. Our application is primarily to model atoms interacting via a common electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field contains correlations in both space and time, which are related to its relativistic (photon-mediated) nature. As such, atoms residing in the same field experience different environmental effects depending upon their relative position and orientation. Our more accurate solutions were necessary to assess sudden death of entanglement at zero temperature. In contrast to previous claims, we found that all initial states of two-level atoms undergo finite-time disentanglement. We were also able to access regimes which cannot be described by Lindblad equations and other simpler methods, such as near resonance. Finally we revisit the infamous Abraham-Lorentz force, wherein a single particle in motion experiences backreaction from the electromagnetic field. This leads to a number of well-known problems including pre-acceleration and runaway solutions. We found a more a more-suitable open-system treatment of the nonrelativistic particle to be perfectly causal and dissipative without any extraneous requirements for finite size of the particle, weak coupling to the field, etc..
We examine the dynamics of bipartite quantum entanglement between a two-level atom and the electromagnetic field. We begin with the Jaynes-Cummings model with a single field mode and examine in detail the exact time evolution of entanglement, including cases where the atomic state is initially mixed and the atomic transition is detuned from resonance. We then explore the effects of other nearby modes by calculating the exact time evolution of entanglement in more complex systems with two, three, and five field modes. For these cases we can obtain exact solutions which include the strong-coupling regime. Finally, we consider the entanglement of a two-level atom with the infinite collection of modes present in the intracavity field of a Fabre-Perot cavity. In contrast to the usual treatment of atom-field interactions with a continuum of modes using the Born-Markov approximation, our treatment in all cases describes the full non-Markovian dynamics of the atomic subsystem under general couplings. Only when an analytic expression for the infinite mode case is desired do we need to make a weak coupling assumption which at late times approximates Markovian dynamics.
We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of a pair of qubits made of two-level atoms separated in space with distance r and interacting with one common electromagnetic field but not directly with each other. Our calculation makes a weak coupling assumption, but no Born or Markov approximation. We derived a non-Markovian master equation for the evolution of the reduced density matrix of the two-qubit system after integrating out the electromagnetic field modes. It contains a Markovian part with a Lindblad type operator and a nonMarkovian contribution, the physics of which is the main focus of this study. We use the concurrence function as a measure of quantum entanglement between the two qubits. Two classes of states are studied in detail: Class A is a one parameter family of states which are the superposition of the highest energy |I〉 ≡ |11〉 and lowest energy |O〉 ≡ |00〉 states, υiz, |A〉≡p|I〉+(1−p)|O〉, with 0 ≤ p ≤ 1; and Class B states |B〉 are linear combinations of the symmetric |+〉=12(|01〉+|10〉) and the antisymmetric |−〉=12(|01〉−|10〉) Bell states.
We study the stochastic dynamics of a two-level quantum system interacting with a stochastic magnetic field, and a single frequency electromagnetic field, with and without making the rotating wave approximation (RWA). The transformation to the rotating frame does not commute with the stochastic Hamiltonian if the stochastic field has nonvanishing components in the transverse direction. Hence, making the RWA modifies the stochastic terms in the Hamiltonian. Modification of the decay terms is also required in a master equation approach (i.e., the Liouville--von Neumann density matrix equation) for describing the dynamics. For isotropic Gaussian white noise, the RWA dynamics remains Markovian, although the Lindblad terms in the master equation for the density matrix become time-dependent when the non-commutation of the RWA transformation and the noise Hamiltonian is properly accounted for. We also treat Ornstein--Uhlenbeck noise, and find, in contra-distinction to the white noise case, a significant difference in the dynamics calculated with the RWA when the non-commutation of the RWA transformation and the noise Hamiltonian is taken into account. These findings are applicable to the modeling of any open quantum system coupled to an electromagentic field.