Abstract In this work we provide a method to study the entanglement entropy for non-Gaussian states that minimize the energy functional of interacting quantum field theories at arbitrary coupling. To this end, we build a class of non-Gaussian variational trial wavefunctionals with the help of exact nonlinear canonical transformations. The calculability bonanza shown by these variational ansatze allows us to compute the entanglement entropy using the prescription for the ground state of free theories. In free theories, the entanglement entropy is determined by the two-point correlation functions. For the interacting case, we show that these two-point correlators can be replaced by their nonperturbatively corrected counterparts. Upon giving some general formulae for general interacting models we calculate the entanglement entropy of half space and compact regions for the ϕ4 scalar field theory in 2D. Finally, we analyze the rôle played by higher order correlators in our results and show that strong subadditivity is satisfied.
We address the quantification of non-Gaussianity (nG) of states and operations in continuous-variable systems and its use in quantum information. We start by illustrating in detail the properties and the relationships of two recently proposed measures of nG based on the Hilbert-Schmidt distance and the quantum relative entropy (QRE) between the state under examination and a reference Gaussian state. We then evaluate the non-Gaussianities of several families of non-Gaussian quantum states and show that the two measures have the same basic properties and also share the same qualitative behavior in most of the examples taken into account. However, we also show that they introduce a different relation of order; that is, they are not strictly monotone to each other. We exploit the nG measures for states in order to introduce a measure of nG for quantum operations, to assess Gaussification and de-Gaussification protocols, and to investigate in detail the role played by nG in entanglement-distillation protocols. Besides, we exploit the QRE-based nG measure to provide different insight on the extremality of Gaussian states for some entropic quantities such as conditional entropy, mutual information, and the Holevo bound. We also deal with parameter estimation and present a theorem connecting the QRE nG to the quantum Fisher information. Finally, since evaluation of the QRE nG measure requires the knowledge of the full density matrix, we derive some experimentally friendly lower bounds to nG for some classes of states and by considering the possibility of performing on the states only certain efficient or inefficient measurements.
We study the real-time evolution of a self-interacting O(N) scalar field initially prepared in a pure, coherent quantum state. We present a complete solution of the nonequilibrium quantum dynamics from a 1/N expansion of the two-particle-irreducible effective action at next-to-leading order, which includes scattering and memory effects. We demonstrate that, restricting one's attention (or ability to measure) to a subset of the infinite hierarchy of correlation functions, one observes an effective loss of purity or coherence and, on longer time scales, thermalization. We point out that the physics of decoherence is well described by classical statistical field theory.
Random matrix theory is used to represent generic loss of coherence of a fixed central system coupled to a quantum-chaotic environment, represented by a random matrix ensemble, via random interactions. We study the average density matrix arising from the ensemble induced, in contrast to previous studies where the average values of purity, concurrence, and entropy were considered; we further discuss when one or the other approach is relevant. The two approaches agree in the limit of large environments. Analytic results for the average density matrix and its purity are presented in linear response approximation. The two-qubit system is analysed, mainly numerically, in more detail.
In the space of mixed states the Schrödinger-Robertson uncertainty relation holds though it can never be saturated. Two tight extensions of this relation in the space of mixed states exist; one proposed by Dodonov and Man'ko, where the lower limit on the uncertainty depends on the purity of the state, and another where the uncertainty is bounded by the von Neumann entropy of the state proposed by Bastiaans. Driven by the needs that have emerged in the field of quantum information, in a recent work we have extended the puritybounded uncertainty relation by adding an additional parameter characterizing the state, namely its degree of non-Gaussianity. In this work we alternatively present a extension of the entropy-bounded uncertainty relation. The common points and differences between the two extensions of the uncertainty relation help us to draw more general conclusions concerning the bounds on the non-Gaussianity of mixed states.
Entropy production is the key quantity behind the second law of thermodynamics, and it is well defined by considering a joint unitary evolution of a system
S and a thermal environment
E. However, due to the diversity of initial state and Hamiltonian of
S and
E, it is hard to evaluate the characterization of the entropy production. In this Letter we propose that the evolution of
S and
E can be solved non-perturbatively in the framework of Gaussian quantum mechanics (GQM) for Gaussian states and quadratic Hamiltonian. We study the entropy production and correlation spreading in two models of
E: one-dimensional free massless scalar quantum field theory in a cavity and an oscillator chain with adjacent interactions. The result is not what one might naively expect,
S being thermalized and keeps stable, but is all the physical quantities, such as entropy production, mutual information, and the effective temperature of
S, are fluctuating. In general the interaction between
S and
E creates correlation, and this correlation could spread in
E and cause the physical quantities to fluctuate. The detailed information depends on the coupling strength, number of modes, boundary condition and other parameters. This analysis can be extended to any other models in the framework of QGM.