Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1403.1333 · Physical Review A

Zeno limit in frequency estimation with non-Markovian environments

Katarzyna Macieszczak

Published Jul 13, 2015• 51 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A quantum system can be prepared in an entangled state that is very sensitive to changes introduced to its dynamics and thus potentially can be utilized as a precise sensor of dynamics parameters. $N$ entangled two-level atoms evolving unitarily can be used for frequency estimation with Heisenberg-limited precision which scales as ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$, whereas uncorrelated states give only a standard-limited precision which scales as ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. As entangled states are also sensitive to disturbances introduced by interactions with external environments, quantum enhancement of the precision may be significantly limited for open quantum systems. This is the case when an interaction with an environment leads to local Markovian dephasing and the precision scales as ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ for all atom preparations. For local non-Markovian dephasing, however, Matsuzaki et al. [Phys. Rev. A 84, 012103 (2011)] and Chin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 233601 (2012)] showed that the atoms prepared in the maximally entangled state achieve Zeno scaling $\ensuremath{\propto}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{N}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}$ in precision and argued that this limit should hold for any entangled state. Here we prove that Zeno scaling is indeed the best possible scaling for all local non-Markovian dephasing models which feature initial Zeno dynamics. Moreover, Zeno scaling can hold only for experiments in the Zeno-dynamics regime, otherwise scaling of the precision is standard.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.010102

Related papers

Restoring the Heisenberg limit via collective non-Markovian dephasing

Dmitri S. Mogilevtsev, E. Garusov, M. V. Korolkov +2 more

In this work an exactly solvable model of $N$ two-level systems interacting with a single bosonic dephasing reservoir is considered to unravel the role played by collective non-Markovian dephasing. We show that phase estimation with entangled states for this model can exceed the standard quantum limit and demonstrate Heisenberg scaling with the number of atoms for an arbitrary temperature. For a certain class of reservoir densities of states decoherence can be suppressed in the limit of a large number of atoms and the Heisenberg limit can be restored for arbitrary interrogation times. We identify the second class of densities when the Heisenberg scaling can be restored for any finite interrogation time. We also find the third class of densities when the standard quantum limit can be exceeded only on the initial stage of dynamics in the Zeno regime.

arXiv:1809.11027•Physical Review A•Oct 16, 2018•10 citations

Quantum Metrology in Non-Markovian Environments

Alex W. Chin, Susana F. Huelga, Martin Bodo Plenio

We analyze precision bounds for a local phase estimation in the presence of general, non-Markovian phase noise. We demonstrate that the metrological equivalence of product and maximally entangled states that holds under strictly Markovian dephasing fails in the non-Markovian case. Using an exactly solvable model of a physically realistic finite bandwidth dephasing environment, we demonstrate that the ensuing non-Markovian dynamics enables quantum correlated states to outperform metrological strategies based on uncorrelated states using otherwise identical resources. We show that this conclusion is a direct result of the coherent dynamics of the global state of the system and environment and therefore the obtained scaling with the number of particles, which surpasses the standard quantum limit but does not achieve Heisenberg resolution, possesses general validity that goes beyond specific models. This is in marked contrast with the situation encountered under general Markovian noise, where an arbitrarily small amount of noise is enough to restore the scaling dictated by the standard quantum limit.

arXiv:1103.1219•Physical Review Letters•Dec 4, 2012•642 citations

Ultimate Precision Limits for Noisy Frequency Estimation

Andrea Smirne, Jan Kołodyński, Susana F. Huelga +1 more

Quantum metrology protocols allow us to surpass precision limits typical to classical statistics. However, in recent years, no-go theorems have been formulated, which state that typical forms of uncorrelated noise can constrain the quantum enhancement to a constant factor and, thus, bound the error to the standard asymptotic scaling. In particular, that is the case of time-homogeneous (Lindbladian) dephasing and, more generally, all semigroup dynamics that include phase covariant terms, which commute with the system Hamiltonian. We show that the standard scaling can be surpassed when the dynamics is no longer ruled by a semigroup and becomes time inhomogeneous. In this case, the ultimate precision is determined by the system short-time behavior, which when exhibiting the natural Zeno regime leads to a nonstandard asymptotic resolution. In particular, we demonstrate that the relevant noise feature dictating the precision is the violation of the semigroup property at short time scales, while non-Markovianity does not play any specific role.

arXiv:1511.02708•Physical Review Letters•Mar 24, 2016•177 citations

Precision bounds for frequency estimation under collective dephasing and open-loop control

Francisco Riberi, Gerardo Paz-Silva, Lorenza Viola

Dephasing noise is a ubiquitous source of decoherence in current atomic sensors. We address the problem of entanglement-assisted frequency estimation subject to classical dephasing noise with full spatial correlations (collective) and arbitrary temporal correlations. Our contributions are threefold. (i) We derive rigorous, state-independent bounds on the achievable estimation precision, showing how they are entirely determined by the short-time behavior of the decoherence function. For temporally uncorrelated (Markovian) dephasing, precision is limited by a probe-independent constant. For temporally correlated stationary noise, the bound approaches the noiseless limit for classical states, precluding any asymptotic quantum advantage. (ii) We show that these scaling bounds are tight, by constructing generalized Ramsey protocols that saturate them. These optimal protocols use squeezing at the input and before readout, both of which are available in state-of-the-art atomic interferometers. Implementing a perfect-echo protocol, which reaches Heisenberg scaling in the absence of noise, remains optimal in this noisy setting, irrespective of the noise temporal correlations. (iii) We prove that arbitrary collective open-loop control cannot lift the no-go for super-classical precision scaling under either Markovian or colored stationary noise, highlighting the detrimental nature of full spatial correlations. In the latter case, temporal correlations may nonetheless enable constant-factor improvements over the standard quantum limit, which may still be important in practical metrological scenarios.

quant-pharXiv:2603.23804•Mar 26, 2026•0 citations

Frequency estimation under non-Markovian spatially correlated quantum noise

Francisco Riberi, Leigh Norris, Félix Beaudoin +1 more

Abstract We study the estimation precision attainable by entanglement-enhanced Ramsey interferometry in the presence of spatiotemporally correlated non-classical noise. Our analysis relies on an exact expression of the reduced density matrix of the qubit probes under general zero-mean Gaussian stationary dephasing, which is established through cumulant-expansion techniques and may be of independent interest in the context of non-Markovian open dynamics. By continuing and expanding our previous work (Beaudoin et al 2018 Phys. Rev. A 98 020102(R)), we analyze the effects of a non-collective coupling regime between the qubit probes and their environment, focusing on two limiting scenarios where the couplings may take only two or a continuum of possible values. In the paradigmatic case of spin–boson dephasing noise from a thermal environment, we find that it is in principle possible to suppress, on average, the effect of spatial correlations by randomizing the location of the probes, as long as enough configurations are sampled where noise correlations are negative. As a result, superclassical precision scaling is asymptotically restored for initial entangled states, including experimentally accessible one-axis spin-squeezed states.

arXiv:2204.10798•New Journal of Physics•Sep 16, 2022•11 citations

Metrology, metastability and dynamical phase transitions in open quantum systems

Katarzyna Macieszczak

In this thesis we explore aspects of dynamics of open quantum systems related to coherence and quantum correlations - necessary resources for enhanced quantum metrology and quantum computation. We first discuss limits to the precision of parameter estimation when using a quantum system in the presence of noise. To this end we introduce a variational principle for the quantum Fisher information (QFI) bounding the estimation errors of any measurement, which motivates an efficient iterative algorithm for finding optimal system preparations for noisy estimation experiments. Furthermore, we investigate influence of noise correlations on the precision in phase and frequency estimation, by delivering bounds for both spatially and temporarily correlated (non-Markovian) dephasing noise. This allows us to prove the Zeno limit in frequency estimation, conjectured in Phys. Rev. A 84, 012103 (2011) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 233601 (2012). The enhanced estimation precision in quantum metrology can be, however, achieved only using highly entangled states. We propose a scheme of generating such highly correlated states as outputs of Markovian open quantum systems near first-order dynamical phase transitions. We show that the quadratic scaling of the QFI with time is present for experiments within the correlation time of the dynamics and describe a theoretical scheme for quantum enhanced estimation of an optical phase-shift using the photons being emitted from an intermittent quantum system. Finally, we establish the basis for a theory of metastability in Markovian open quantum systems, by extending methods from classical stochastic dynamics. We argue that the partial relaxation into long-lived metastable states - distinct from the asymptotic stationary state - may preserve initial coherences within decoherence-free subspaces or noiseless subsystems, thus allowing for quantum computation during the metastable regime.

•Jul 12, 2017•0 citations
A quantum system can be prepared in an entangled state that is very sensitive to changes introduced to its dynamics and thus potentially can be utilized as a precise sensor of dynamics parameters. NNN entangled two-level atoms evolving unitarily can be used for frequency estimation with Heisenberg-limited precision which scales as N\ensuremath−2{N}^{\ensuremath{-}2}N\ensuremath−2, whereas uncorrelated states give only a standard-limited precision which scales as N\ensuremath−1{N}^{\ensuremath{-}1}N\ensuremath−1. As entangled states are also sensitive to disturbances introduced by interactions with external environments, quantum enhancement of the precision may be significantly limited for open quantum systems. This is the case when an interaction with an environment leads to local Markovian dephasing and the precision scales as N\ensuremath−1{N}^{\ensuremath{-}1}N\ensuremath−1 for all atom preparations. For local non-Markovian dephasing, however, Matsuzaki et al. [Phys. Rev. A 84, 012103 (2011)] and Chin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 233601 (2012)] showed that the atoms prepared in the maximally entangled state achieve Zeno scaling \ensuremath∝N\ensuremath−3/2\ensuremath{\propto}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{N}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}\ensuremath∝N\ensuremath−3/2 in precision and argued that this limit should hold for any entangled state. Here we prove that Zeno scaling is indeed the best possible scaling for all local non-Markovian dephasing models which feature initial Zeno dynamics. Moreover, Zeno scaling can hold only for experiments in the Zeno-dynamics regime, otherwise scaling of the precision is standard.
In this work an exactly solvable model of NNN two-level systems interacting with a single bosonic dephasing reservoir is considered to unravel the role played by collective non-Markovian dephasing. We show that phase estimation with entangled states for this model can exceed the standard quantum limit and demonstrate Heisenberg scaling with the number of atoms for an arbitrary temperature. For a certain class of reservoir densities of states decoherence can be suppressed in the limit of a large number of atoms and the Heisenberg limit can be restored for arbitrary interrogation times. We identify the second class of densities when the Heisenberg scaling can be restored for any finite interrogation time. We also find the third class of densities when the standard quantum limit can be exceeded only on the initial stage of dynamics in the Zeno regime.
We analyze precision bounds for a local phase estimation in the presence of general, non-Markovian phase noise. We demonstrate that the metrological equivalence of product and maximally entangled states that holds under strictly Markovian dephasing fails in the non-Markovian case. Using an exactly solvable model of a physically realistic finite bandwidth dephasing environment, we demonstrate that the ensuing non-Markovian dynamics enables quantum correlated states to outperform metrological strategies based on uncorrelated states using otherwise identical resources. We show that this conclusion is a direct result of the coherent dynamics of the global state of the system and environment and therefore the obtained scaling with the number of particles, which surpasses the standard quantum limit but does not achieve Heisenberg resolution, possesses general validity that goes beyond specific models. This is in marked contrast with the situation encountered under general Markovian noise, where an arbitrarily small amount of noise is enough to restore the scaling dictated by the standard quantum limit.
Quantum metrology protocols allow us to surpass precision limits typical to classical statistics. However, in recent years, no-go theorems have been formulated, which state that typical forms of uncorrelated noise can constrain the quantum enhancement to a constant factor and, thus, bound the error to the standard asymptotic scaling. In particular, that is the case of time-homogeneous (Lindbladian) dephasing and, more generally, all semigroup dynamics that include phase covariant terms, which commute with the system Hamiltonian. We show that the standard scaling can be surpassed when the dynamics is no longer ruled by a semigroup and becomes time inhomogeneous. In this case, the ultimate precision is determined by the system short-time behavior, which when exhibiting the natural Zeno regime leads to a nonstandard asymptotic resolution. In particular, we demonstrate that the relevant noise feature dictating the precision is the violation of the semigroup property at short time scales, while non-Markovianity does not play any specific role.
Dephasing noise is a ubiquitous source of decoherence in current atomic sensors. We address the problem of entanglement-assisted frequency estimation subject to classical dephasing noise with full spatial correlations (collective) and arbitrary temporal correlations. Our contributions are threefold. (i) We derive rigorous, state-independent bounds on the achievable estimation precision, showing how they are entirely determined by the short-time behavior of the decoherence function. For temporally uncorrelated (Markovian) dephasing, precision is limited by a probe-independent constant. For temporally correlated stationary noise, the bound approaches the noiseless limit for classical states, precluding any asymptotic quantum advantage. (ii) We show that these scaling bounds are tight, by constructing generalized Ramsey protocols that saturate them. These optimal protocols use squeezing at the input and before readout, both of which are available in state-of-the-art atomic interferometers. Implementing a perfect-echo protocol, which reaches Heisenberg scaling in the absence of noise, remains optimal in this noisy setting, irrespective of the noise temporal correlations. (iii) We prove that arbitrary collective open-loop control cannot lift the no-go for super-classical precision scaling under either Markovian or colored stationary noise, highlighting the detrimental nature of full spatial correlations. In the latter case, temporal correlations may nonetheless enable constant-factor improvements over the standard quantum limit, which may still be important in practical metrological scenarios.
Abstract We study the estimation precision attainable by entanglement-enhanced Ramsey interferometry in the presence of spatiotemporally correlated non-classical noise. Our analysis relies on an exact expression of the reduced density matrix of the qubit probes under general zero-mean Gaussian stationary dephasing, which is established through cumulant-expansion techniques and may be of independent interest in the context of non-Markovian open dynamics. By continuing and expanding our previous work (Beaudoin et al 2018 Phys. Rev. A 98 020102(R)), we analyze the effects of a non-collective coupling regime between the qubit probes and their environment, focusing on two limiting scenarios where the couplings may take only two or a continuum of possible values. In the paradigmatic case of spin–boson dephasing noise from a thermal environment, we find that it is in principle possible to suppress, on average, the effect of spatial correlations by randomizing the location of the probes, as long as enough configurations are sampled where noise correlations are negative. As a result, superclassical precision scaling is asymptotically restored for initial entangled states, including experimentally accessible one-axis spin-squeezed states.
In this thesis we explore aspects of dynamics of open quantum systems related to coherence and quantum correlations - necessary resources for enhanced quantum metrology and quantum computation. We first discuss limits to the precision of parameter estimation when using a quantum system in the presence of noise. To this end we introduce a variational principle for the quantum Fisher information (QFI) bounding the estimation errors of any measurement, which motivates an efficient iterative algorithm for finding optimal system preparations for noisy estimation experiments. Furthermore, we investigate influence of noise correlations on the precision in phase and frequency estimation, by delivering bounds for both spatially and temporarily correlated (non-Markovian) dephasing noise. This allows us to prove the Zeno limit in frequency estimation, conjectured in Phys. Rev. A 84, 012103 (2011) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 233601 (2012). The enhanced estimation precision in quantum metrology can be, however, achieved only using highly entangled states. We propose a scheme of generating such highly correlated states as outputs of Markovian open quantum systems near first-order dynamical phase transitions. We show that the quadratic scaling of the QFI with time is present for experiments within the correlation time of the dynamics and describe a theoretical scheme for quantum enhanced estimation of an optical phase-shift using the photons being emitted from an intermittent quantum system. Finally, we establish the basis for a theory of metastability in Markovian open quantum systems, by extending methods from classical stochastic dynamics. We argue that the partial relaxation into long-lived metastable states - distinct from the asymptotic stationary state - may preserve initial coherences within decoherence-free subspaces or noiseless subsystems, thus allowing for quantum computation during the metastable regime.