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arXiv:1203.5209 · Physical Review A

Positivity in the presence of initial system-environment correlation

Kavan Kishore Modi, César A. Rodríguez-Rosario, Alán Aspuru‐Guzik

Published Dec 12, 2012• 36 citations
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Abstract

The constraints imposed by the initial system-environment correlation can lead to nonpositive dynamical maps. We find the conditions for positivity and complete positivity of such dynamical maps by using the concept of an assignment map. Any initial system-environment correlations make the assignment map nonpositive, while the positivity of the dynamical map depends on the interplay between the assignment map and the system-environment coupling. We show how this interplay can reveal or hide the nonpositivity of the assignment map. We discuss the role of this interplay in Markovian models.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.86.064102

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The constraints imposed by the initial system-environment correlation can lead to nonpositive dynamical maps. We find the conditions for positivity and complete positivity of such dynamical maps by using the concept of an assignment map. Any initial system-environment correlations make the assignment map nonpositive, while the positivity of the dynamical map depends on the interplay between the assignment map and the system-environment coupling. We show how this interplay can reveal or hide the nonpositivity of the assignment map. We discuss the role of this interplay in Markovian models.
Assignment maps are mathematical operators that describe initial system-environment states for open quantum systems. We re-examine the notion of assignments that account for correlations between the system and the environment and show that these maps can be made linear at the expense of giving up positivity or consistency of the map. We study the role of positivity and consistency of the map and show the effects of relaxing these. Finally, we establish a connection between the violation of the positivity of linear assignments and the no-broadcasting theorem.
We study the role of correlations with the environment as the source of non-Markovian quantum evolutions. We first focus on the impact that correlations with the environment can have on the dynamical map that evolve the system. We expand the set of initial states of a system and its environment that are known to guarantee completely positive reduced dynamics for the system when the combined state evolves unitarily. We characterize the correlations in the initial state in terms of its quantum discord. The induced maps can be not completely positive when quantum correlations including, but not limited to, entanglement are present. We discuss the implications and limitations of the Markov approximation necessary to derive the Kossakowski-Lindblad master equation. A generalized non-Markovian master equation is derived from the dynamical map of systems correlated with their environment. The physical meaning of not completely positive maps is studied to obtain a consistent theory of non-Markovian quantum dynamics. These are associated to inverse maps necessary to establish correlations and they give rise to a canonical embedding map that is local in time. This master equation goes beyond the Kossakowski-Lindblad master equation. Non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics can be be studied within this theory. Through out this discussion, the general dynamics of two interacting qubits is used as an example for illustrations.
It is now increasingly realized in the study of open system dynamics that initial correlations do not pose a conceptual difficulty as traditionally believed. A similar methodology as used to describe initial product states can be adopted, with the only difference being that the reduced dynamics is possibly not completely positive, entailing that only a restricted set of initial reduced states lead to a physically valid dynamics. Here we study the interplay between the initial correlations, especially in the form of highly entangled states, and the system–environment unitary. In particular, for almost any initial entangled state, one can furnish infinitely many joint unitaries that generate CP dynamics on the system. Restricting to the case of initial, pure entangled states, we obtain the scaling of the dimension of the set of these unitaries and show that it is of zero measure in the set of all possible interaction unitaries.
A system interacting with its environment will give rise to a quantum evolution. After tracing over the environment the net evolution of the system can be described by a linear Hermitian map. It has recently been shown that a necessary and sufficient condition for this evolution to be completely positive is for the initial state to have vanishing quantum discord. In this paper, we provide a sufficient condition for the map to be positive with respect to the initial system-environment correlation. This could lead to ways in which to identify positive but not completely positive maps. Illustrative examples and suggestive procedures are also provided.
The description of the dynamics of a system that may be correlated with its environment is only meaningful within the context of a specific framework. Different frameworks rely upon different assumptions about the initial system-environment state. We reexamine the connections between complete positivity and quantum discord within two different sets of assumptions about the relevant family of initial states. We present an example of a system-environment state with nonvanishing quantum discord that leads to a completely positive map. This invalidates an earlier claim about the necessity of vanishing quantum discord for completely positive maps. In our final remarks, we discuss the physical validity of each approach.
We construct a non-Markovian dynamical map that accounts for systems correlated to the environment. We refer to it as a canonical dynamical map, which forms an evolution family. The relationship between inverse maps and correlations with the environment is established. The mathematical properties of complete positivity is related to classical correlations, according to quantum discord, between the system and the environment. A generalized non-Markovian master equation is derived from the canonical dynamical map.