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arXiv:1301.2902 · Physical Review A

Non-Markovian master equations from piecewise dynamics

Bassano Vacchini

Published Mar 8, 2013• 61 citations
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Abstract

We construct a large class of completely positive and trace-preserving non-Markovian dynamical maps for an open quantum system. These maps arise from a piecewise dynamics for statistical operators characterized by a continuous time evolution interrupted by jumps, randomly distributed in time and described by a quantum channel. The state of the open system is shown to obey a closed evolution equation, given by a master equation with a memory kernel and an inhomogeneous term. The non-Markovianity of the obtained dynamics is explicitly assessed studying the behavior of the distinguishability of two different initial system's states with elapsing time.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.030101

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We construct a large class of completely positive and trace-preserving non-Markovian dynamical maps for an open quantum system. These maps arise from a piecewise dynamics for statistical operators characterized by a continuous time evolution interrupted by jumps, randomly distributed in time and described by a quantum channel. The state of the open system is shown to obey a closed evolution equation, given by a master equation with a memory kernel and an inhomogeneous term. The non-Markovianity of the obtained dynamics is explicitly assessed studying the behavior of the distinguishability of two different initial system's states with elapsing time.
Recently, a large class of quantum non-Markovian piecewise dynamics for an open quantum system obeying closed evolution equations has been introduced [1]. These dynamics have been defined in terms of a waiting-time distribution between quantum jumps, along with quantum maps describing the effect of jumps and the system evolution between them. Here, we present a quantum collision model with memory, whose reduced dynamics in the continuous-time limit reproduces the above class of non-Markovian piecewise dynamics, thus providing an explicit microscopic realization.
Semi-Markov processes represent a well-known and widely used class of random processes in classical probability theory. Here, we develop an extension of this type of non-Markovian dynamics to the quantum regime. This extension is demonstrated to yield quantum master equations with memory kernels which allow the formulation of explicit conditions for the complete positivity of the corresponding quantum dynamical maps, thus leading to important insights into the structural characterization of the non-Markovian quantum dynamics of open systems. Explicit examples are analyzed in detail.
We provide a general construction of quantum generalized master equations with a memory kernel leading to well-defined, that is, completely positive and trace-preserving, time evolutions. The approach builds on an operator generalization of memory kernels appearing in the description of non-Markovian classical processes and puts into evidence the nonuniqueness of the relationship arising due to the typical quantum issue of operator ordering. The approach provides a physical interpretation of the structure of the kernels, and its connection with the classical viewpoint allows for a trajectory description of the dynamics. Previous apparently unrelated results are now connected in a unified framework, which further allows us to phenomenologically construct a large class of non-Markovian evolutions taking as the starting point collections of time-dependent maps and instantaneous transformations describing the microscopic interaction dynamics.
It is shown that non-Markovian master equations for an open system which are local in time can be unravelled through a piecewise deterministic quantum jump process in its Hilbert space. We derive a stochastic Schrödinger equation that reveals how non-Markovian effects are manifested in statistical correlations between different realizations of the process. Moreover, we demonstrate that possible violations of the positivity of approximate master equations are closely connected to singularities of the stochastic Schrödinger equation, which could lead to important insights into the structural characterization of positive non-Markovian equations of motion.
We discuss a wide class of time inhomogeneous quantum evolution which is represented by two-parameter family of completely positive trace-preserving maps. These dynamical maps are constructed as infinite series of jump processes. It is shown that such dynamical maps satisfy time inhomogeneous memory kernel master equation which provides a generalization of the master equation involving the standard convolution. Time-local (time convolution-less) approach is discussed as well. Finally, the comparative analysis of traditional time homogeneous versus time inhomogeneous scenario is provided.