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arXiv:2006.13718 · Physical Review A

Quantum adiabatic brachistochrone for open systems

Alan C. Santos, Celso J. Villas-Bôas, Romain Bachelard

Published Jan 11, 2021• 7 citations
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Abstract

We propose a variational principle to compute a quantum adiabatic brachistochrone (QAB) for open systems. Using the notion of ``adiabatic speed'' based on the energy gaps, we derive a Lagrangian associated to the functional measuring the time spent to achieve adiabatic behavior, which in turn allows us to perform the optimization. The QAB is illustrated for the nonunitary dynamics of a stimulated Raman adiabatic passage process, the Deutsch-Jozsa quantum computing algorithm, and of a transmon qutrit. A numerical protocol is devised, which allows one to compute the QAB for arbitrary quantum systems for which exact simulations can be afforded. We also establish sufficient conditions for the equivalence between the Lagrangians, and thus the QAB, of open and closed systems.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.103.012206

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We propose a variational principle to compute a quantum adiabatic brachistochrone (QAB) for open systems. Using the notion of ``adiabatic speed'' based on the energy gaps, we derive a Lagrangian associated to the functional measuring the time spent to achieve adiabatic behavior, which in turn allows us to perform the optimization. The QAB is illustrated for the nonunitary dynamics of a stimulated Raman adiabatic passage process, the Deutsch-Jozsa quantum computing algorithm, and of a transmon qutrit. A numerical protocol is devised, which allows one to compute the QAB for arbitrary quantum systems for which exact simulations can be afforded. We also establish sufficient conditions for the equivalence between the Lagrangians, and thus the QAB, of open and closed systems.
Minimum-time quantum control protocols can be obtained from the quantum brachistochrone formalism [Carlini, Hosoya, Koike, and Okudaira, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 06053, (2006)]. We point out that the original treatment implicitly applied the variational calculus with fixed boundary conditions. We argue that the genuine quantum brachistochrone problem involves a variational problem with a movable endpoint, contrary to the classical brachistochrone problem. This formulation not only simplifies the derivation of the quantum brachistochrone equation but introduces an additional constraint at the endpoint due to the boundary effect. We present the general solution to the full quantum brachistochrone equation and discuss its main features. Using it, we prove that the speed of evolution under constraints is reduced with respect to the unrestricted case. In addition, we find that solving the quantum brachistochrone equation is closely connected to solving the dynamics of the Lagrange multipliers, which is in general governed by nonlinear differential equations. Their numerical integration allows generating time-extremal trajectories. Furthermore, when the restricted operators form a closed subalgebra, the Lagrange multipliers become constant and the optimal Hamiltonian takes a concise form. The new class of analytically solvable models for the quantum brachistochrone problem opens up the possibility of applying it to many-body quantum systems, exploring notions related to geometry such as quantum speed limits, and advancing significantly the quantum state and gate preparation for quantum information processing.
Adiabatic control is a fundamental technique for manipulating quantum systems, guided by the quantum adiabatic theorem, which ensures suppressed nonadiabatic transitions under slow parameter variations. Quantum annealing, a heuristic algorithm leveraging adiabatic control, seeks the ground states of Ising spin glass models and has drawn attention for addressing combinatorial optimization problems. However, exponentially small energy gaps in such models often necessitate impractically long runtime to satisfy the adiabatic condition. Despite this limitation, improving the quality of approximate solutions remains crucial for practical applications. The quantum adiabatic brachistochrone provides a method to enhance adiabaticity by minimizing an action representing nonadiabaticity via the variational principle. While effective, its implementation requires detailed energy spectra, complicating its use in quantum annealing. Shortcuts to adiabaticity by counterdiabatic driving offer alternative approaches for accelerating adiabatic processes. However, the theory of shortcuts to adiabaticity often faces challenges such as nonlocal control requirements, high computational cost, and trade-offs between speed and energy efficiency. In this work, we propose a novel quantum adiabatic brachistochrone protocol tailored for quantum annealing that eliminates the need for energy spectrum information. Our approach builds on advancements in counterdiabatic driving to design efficient parameter schedules. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method through numerical simulations on the transverse-field Ising chain and axial next-nearest neighbor Ising models.
The adiabatic approximation exhibits wide applicability in quantum mechanics, providing a simple approach for nontransitional dynamics in quantum systems governed by slowly varying time-dependent Hamiltonians. However, the standard adiabatic theorem is specifically derived for closed quantum systems. In a realistic open system scenario, the inevitable system-reservoir interaction must be taken into account, which strongly impacts the generalization of the adiabatic behavior. In this paper, we introduce sufficient conditions for the adiabatic approximation in open quantum systems. These conditions are simple yet general, providing a suitable instrument to investigate adiabaticity for arbitrary initial mixed states evolving under time local master equations. We first illustrate our results by showing that the adiabatic approximation for open systems is compatible with the description of quantum thermodynamics at thermal equilibrium, where irreversible entropy production is vanishing. We also apply our sufficient conditions as a tool in quantum control, evaluating the adiabatic behavior for the Hamiltonians of both the Deutsch algorithm and the Landau-Zener model under decoherence.
According to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle between time and energy fluctuation, a concept of the quantum speed limit (QSL) has been established to determine the minimum evolutionary time between quantum states. Considerable theoretical and experimental efforts are invested in obtaining the QSL time bounds in various scenarios. However, it remains a long-standing goal to derive a meaningful QSL bound for a general quantum problem. Here, we propose a geometrical approach to derive a QSL bound for closed and open quantum systems. By solving a quantum brachistochrone problem in the framework of the Riemannian metric, we show that the QSL between a given initial state and a final state is determined not only by the entire dynamics of the system but also by the individual dynamics of a critical parameter. We exemplify the utility of the bound in three representative scenarios, demonstrating a pronounced advantage in finding a tight and meaningful QSL bound of a general quantum evolution problem.
This work explores the relationship between optimal control theory and adiabatic passage techniques in quantum systems. The study is based on a geometric analysis of the Hamiltonian dynamics constructed from Pontryagin's maximum principle. In a three-level quantum system, we show that the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage technique can be associated to a peculiar Hamiltonian singularity. One deduces that the adiabatic pulse is solution of the optimal control problem only for a specific cost functional. This analysis is extended to the case of a four-level quantum system.