The Markovian dynamics of a qubit is investigated in the scheme of random unitary dynamics, where Kraus operators are changed by an extra noise that models imperfect experimental equipment. The behavior of Markovianity is explored in the perturbed scenario. We provide an algorithm for checking completely positive divisibility (Markovianity) of a dynamical map.
The Markovian dynamics of a qubit is investigated in the scheme of random unitary dynamics, where Kraus operators are changed by an extra noise that models imperfect experimental equipment. The behavior of Markovianity is explored in the perturbed scenario. We provide an algorithm for checking completely positive divisibility (Markovianity) of a dynamical map.
We introduce a method to construct non-Markovian variants of completely positive (CP) dynamical maps, particularly, qubit Pauli channels. We identify non-Markovianity with the breakdown in CP divisibility of the map, i.e., appearance of a not-completely positive intermediate map. In particular, we consider the case of non-Markovian dephasing in detail. The eigenvalues of the Choi matrix of the intermediate map crossover at a point which corresponds to a singularity in the canonical decoherence rate of the corresponding master equation and thus to a momentary noninvertibility of the map. Thereafter, the rate becomes negative, indicating non-Markovianity. We quantify the non-Markovianity by two methods, one based on CP divisibility [Hall et al., Phys. Rev. A 89, 042120 (2014)], which does not require optimization but requires normalization to handle the singularity, and another method, based on distinguishability [Breuer et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 210401 (2009)], which requires optimization but is insensitive to the singularity.
It is known that the dynamical evolution of a system, from an initial tensor product state of system and environment, to any two later times, t1, t2 (t2 > t1), are both completely positive (CP) but in the intermediate times between t1 and t2 it need not be CP. This reveals the key to the Markov (if CP) and non Markov (if it is not CP) avataras of the intermediate dynamics. This is brought out here in terms of the quantum stochastic map A and the associated dynamical map B—without resorting to master equation approaches. We investigate these features with four examples which have entirely different physical origins: 1) A two qubit Werner state map with time dependent noise parameter; 2) Phenomenological model of a recent optical experiment (Nature Physics, 7, 931 (2011)) on the open system evolution of photon polarization; 3) Hamiltonian dynamics of a qubit coupled to a bath of N qubits; 4) Two qubit unitary dynamics of Jordan et al. (Phys. Rev. A 70, 052110 (2004) with initial product states of qubits. In all these models, it is shown that the positivity/negativity of the eigenvalues of intermediate time dynamical B map determines the Markov/non-Markov nature of the dynamics.
The concept of divisibility of dynamical maps is used to introduce an analogous concept for quantum channels by analyzing the simulability of channels by means of dynamical maps. In particular, this is addressed for Lindblad divisible, completely positive divisible and positive divisible dynamical maps. The corresponding L-divisible, CP-divisible and P-divisible subsets of channels are characterized (exploiting the results by Wolf et al. \cite{cirac}) and visualized for the case of qubit channels. We discuss the general inclusions among divisibility sets and show several equivalences for qubit channels. To this end we study the conditions of L-divisibility for finite dimensional channels, especially the cases with negative eigenvalues, extending and completing the results of Ref.~\cite{Wolf2008}. Furthermore we show that transitions between every two of the defined divisibility sets are allowed. We explore particular examples of dynamical maps to compare these concepts. Finally, we show that every divisible but not infinitesimal divisible qubit channel (in positive maps) is entanglement breaking, and open the question if something similar occurs for higher dimensions.
Phase covariant qubit dynamics describes an evolution of a two-level system under simultaneous action of pure dephasing, energy dissipation, and energy gain with time-dependent rates γz(t) , γ−(t) , and γ+(t) , respectively. Non-negative rates correspond to completely positive divisible dynamics, which can still exhibit such peculiarities as non-monotonicity of populations for any initial state. We find a set of quantum channels attainable in the completely positive divisible phase covariant dynamics and show that this set coincides with the set of channels attainable in semigroup phase covariant dynamics. We also construct new examples of eternally indivisible dynamics with γz(t)<0 for all t>0 that is neither unital nor commutative. Using the quantum Sinkhorn theorem, we for the first time derive a restriction on the decoherence rates under which the dynamics is positive divisible, namely, γ±(t)≥0 , γ+(t)γ−(t)+2γz(t)>0 . Finally, we consider phase covariant convolution master equations and find a class of admissible memory kernels that guarantee complete positivity of the dynamical map.
We experimentally observed in an optical setup and using full tomography process the so-called weak non-Markovian dynamics of a qubit [1]. This was done implementing the collisional model proposed in [2] to investigate the non- Markovian dynamics of an open quantum system interacting with a carefully controlled environment state. We also observed the transition from weak to strong (essentially) non-Markovianity. In our all-optical setup, a single photon system, initially entangled in polarization with an ancilla, is made to interact with a sequence of liquid crystal retarders driven by proper electric pulses, which simulates the environment. Depending on how the voltage is applied on each liquid crystal, it will work as a half-wave plate with different orientations. Then, by changing properly the parameters of the qubit-environment interactions, the system dynamics can suffer a transition from weak to strong non-Markovianity. In the strong regime, the full reconstruction of the entangled state was made by single entanglement witness between system and ancilla, showing a backflow of information, while, in the weak regime, given the contractive unital map feature, we can only measure the dynamics by a full process tomography analysis, searching for the violation of the divisibility completely positive map criterion, what was done successfully.