Abstract We present a formalism for detection of non-Markovianity (NM) through uncertainty relations. We show that when there is an information back-flow to the system from its environment through CP-divisibility breaking, the Choi-states corresponding to the reduced system evolution contain at least one negative eigenvalue. The consequent break down of uncertainty relations for such states can be used to witness non-Markovian dynamics. We present some relevant examples of the phenomenon for qubit channels. We further prove that square of the variance of a suitable Hermitian operator can act as a non-linear witness of NM. We finally show that NM is necessary in order to decrease the uncertainty of the states undergoing unital dynamics for qubits. This provides another method of certifying NM.
Abstract We present a formalism for detection of non-Markovianity (NM) through uncertainty relations. We show that when there is an information back-flow to the system from its environment through CP-divisibility breaking, the Choi-states corresponding to the reduced system evolution contain at least one negative eigenvalue. The consequent break down of uncertainty relations for such states can be used to witness non-Markovian dynamics. We present some relevant examples of the phenomenon for qubit channels. We further prove that square of the variance of a suitable Hermitian operator can act as a non-linear witness of NM. We finally show that NM is necessary in order to decrease the uncertainty of the states undergoing unital dynamics for qubits. This provides another method of certifying NM.
Non-Markovian effects in open quantum system dynamics usually manifest the backflow of information from the environment to the system, indicating complete-positive divisibility breaking of the dynamics. We provide a criterion for witnessing such non-Markovian dynamics exhibiting information backflow, based on partial moments of Choi matrices. The moment condition determined by the positive semi-definiteness of a matrix does not hold for a Choi state describing non-Markovian dynamics. We then present some explicit examples in support of our proposed non-Markovianity detection scheme. Finally, a moment-based measure of non-Markovianity for unital dynamics is formulated.
Abstract Non‐Markovian dynamics detection is one of the most popular subjects in quantum information science. In this paper, a linear‐entropy‐based non‐Markovianity witness scheme is constructed. The positive definiteness of the Choi state will be broken in non‐Markovian evolution, which can be witnessed by its linear entropy. Thus, the linear entropy of the Choi state can be used to witness non‐Markovian dynamics. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified using the pure dephasing channel as an example. Finally, it is shown that this method can be extended to the one based on Rényi entropy.
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.
We introduce an alternative method based on local quantum uncertainty to measure non-Markovianity for an open quantum system. The local quantum uncertainty proposed by Girolami etal. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 240402 (2013)] is defined by the minimum skew information from a local measurement perspective. The measure effectively captures the characteristics of non-Markovianity and has a clearly physical interpretation: in correlated bipartite systems, the non-Markovian (Markovian) process of a considered open subsystem corresponds to the increase (decrease) of quantum uncertainty of local observables of another measured free subsystem. Then the local quantum uncertainty is further discussed by carefully handling the square root of the density operator for the bipartite $2\ensuremath{\bigotimes}d$ systems. Specifically, for a two-qubit system we give an explicit expression of the local quantum uncertainty. Furthermore, by applying the measure to three typical non-Markovian noise channels, we find that the conditions of detecting the non-Markovianity are consistent with the results of existing measures for non-Markovianity, i.e., information backflow and divisibility.
Non-Markovian evolution in open quantum systems is often characterized in terms of the backflow of information from environment to system and is thus an important facet in investigating the performance and robustness of quantum information protocols. In this work, we explore non-Markovianity through the breakdown of monotonicity of a metrological figure of merit, called the quantum interferometric power, which is based on the minimal quantum Fisher information obtained by local unitary evolution of one part of the system, and can be interpreted as a quantifier of quantum correlations beyond entanglement. We investigate our proposed non-Markovianity indicator in two relevant examples. First, we consider the action of a single-party dephasing channel on a maximally entangled two-qubit state, by applying the Jamio\l{}kowski-Choi isomorphism. We observe that the proposed measure is consistent with established non-Markovianity quantifiers defined using other approaches based on dynamical divisibility, distinguishability, and breakdown of monotonicity for the quantum mutual information. Further, we consider the dynamics of two-qubit Werner states, under the action of a local, single-party amplitude damping channel, and observe that the nonmonotonic evolution of the quantum interferometric power is more robust than the corresponding one for entanglement in capturing the backflow of quantum information associated with the non-Markovian process. Implications for the role of non-Markovianity in quantum metrology and possible extensions to continuous variable systems are discussed.
A non-isolated physical system typically loses information to its environment, and when such loss is irreversible the evolution is said to be Markovian. Non-Markovian effects are studied by monitoring how information quantifiers, such as the distance between physical states, evolve in time. Here we show that the Fisher information metric emerges as a natural object to study in this context; we fully characterize the relation between its contractivity properties and Markovianity, both from the mathematical and operational point of view. We prove, for classical dynamics, that Markovianity is equivalent to the monotonous contraction of the Fisher metric at all points of the set of states. At the same time, operational witnesses of non-Markovianity based on the dilation of the Fisher distance cannot, in general, detect all non-Markovian evolutions, unless specific physical postprocessing is applied to the dynamics. Finally, we show for the first time that non-Markovian dilations of Fisher distance between states at any time correspond to backflow of information about the initial state of the dynamics at time 0, via Bayesian retrodiction. All the presented results can be lifted to the case of quantum dynamics by considering the standard CP-divisibility framework.