Quantum thermometry exploits the high level of control in coherent devices to offer enhanced precision for temperature estimation. This highlights the need for constructing concrete estimation strategies. Of particular importance is collisional thermometry, where a series of ancillae are sent sequentially to probe the system's temperature. In this paper we put forth a complete framework for analyzing collisional thermometry using Bayesian inference. The approach is easily implementable and experimentally friendly. Moreover, it is guaranteed to always saturate the Cram\'er-Rao bound in the long-time limit. Subtleties concerning the prior information about the system's temperature are also discussed and analyzed in terms of a modified Cram\'er-Rao bound associated with Van Trees and Sch\"utzenberger.
Quantum thermometry exploits the high level of control in coherent devices to offer enhanced precision for temperature estimation. This highlights the need for constructing concrete estimation strategies. Of particular importance is collisional thermometry, where a series of ancillae are sent sequentially to probe the system's temperature. In this paper we put forth a complete framework for analyzing collisional thermometry using Bayesian inference. The approach is easily implementable and experimentally friendly. Moreover, it is guaranteed to always saturate the Cram'er-Rao bound in the long-time limit. Subtleties concerning the prior information about the system's temperature are also discussed and analyzed in terms of a modified Cram'er-Rao bound associated with Van Trees and Sch"utzenberger.
In this thesis we deal with two different topics. In the first half we investigate how the Bayesian formalism can be introduced into the problem of quantum thermometry -- a field which exploits the high level of control in coherent devices to offer enhanced precision for temperature estimation. In particular, we investigate concrete estimation strategies, with focus on collisional thermometry, a protocol where a series of ancillae are sent sequentially to probe the system's temperature. We put forth a complete framework for analyzing collisional thermometry using Bayesian inference. The approach is easily implementable and experimentally friendly. Moreover, it is guaranteed to always saturate the Cramér-Rao bound in the long-time limit. Subtleties concerning the prior information about the system's temperature are also discussed and analyzed in terms of a modified Cramér-Rao bound associated with Van Trees and Schützenberger. Meanwhile, in the last part of the thesis we approach the problem of non-adiabatic holonomic computation. Namely, we investigate the implementation based on Λ-systems. It is known that a three-level system can be used in a Λ-type configuration in order to construct a universal set of quantum gates through the use of non-Abelian nonadiabatic geometrical phases. Such construction allows for high-speed operation times which diminish the effects of decoherence. This might be, however, accompanied by a breakdown of the validity of the rotating-wave approximation (RWA) due to the comparable timescale between counter-rotating terms and the pulse length, which greatly affects the dynamics. Here, we investigate the trade-off between dissipative effects and the RWA validity, obtaining the optimal regime for the operation of the holonomic quantum gates.
In this thesis we deal with two different topics.In the first half we investigate how the Bayesian formalism can be introduced into the problem of quantum thermometrya field which exploits the high level of control in coherent devices to offer enhanced precision for temperature estimation.In particular, we investigate concrete estimation strategies, with focus on collisional thermometry, a protocol where a series of ancillae are sent sequentially to probe the system's temperature.We put forth a complete framework for analyzing collisional thermometry using Bayesian inference.The approach is easily implementable and experimentally friendly.Moreover, it is guaranteed to always saturate the Cramér-Rao bound in the long-time limit.Subtleties concerning the prior information about the system's temperature are also discussed and analyzed in terms of a modified Cramér-Rao bound associated with Van Trees and Schützenberger.Meanwhile, in the last part of the thesis we approach the problem of non-adiabatic holonomic computation.Namely, we investigate the implementation based on Λ-systems.It is known that a three-level system can be used in a Λ-type configuration in order to construct a universal set of quantum gates through the use of non-Abelian nonadiabatic geometrical phases.Such construction allows for high-speed operation times which diminish the effects of decoherence.This might be, however, accompanied by a breakdown of the validity of the rotating-wave approximation (RWA) due to the comparable timescale between counter-rotating terms and the pulse length, which greatly affects the dynamics.Here, we investigate the trade-off between dissipative effects and the RWA validity, obtaining the optimal regime for the operation of the holonomic quantum gates.
We study the Bayesian approach to thermometry with no prior knowledge about the expected temperature scale, through the example of energy measurements on fully or partially thermalized qubit probes. We show that the most common Bayesian estimators, namely the mean and the median, lead to high-temperature divergences when used for uninformed thermometry. To circumvent this and achieve better overall accuracy, we propose two new estimators based on an optimization of relative deviations. Their global temperature-averaged behavior matches a modified van Trees bound, which complements the Cram\'er-Rao bound for smaller probe numbers and unrestricted temperature ranges. Furthermore, we show that, using partially thermalized probes, one can increase the range of temperatures to which the thermometer is sensitive at the cost of the local accuracy.
Quantum thermometry aims to measure temperature in nanoscale quantum systems, paralleling classical thermometry. However, temperature is not a quantum observable, and most theoretical studies have therefore concentrated on analyzing fundamental precision limits set by the quantum Fisher information through the quantum Cramer-Rao bound. In contrast, whether a direct temperature readout can be achieved in quantum thermometry remains largely unexplored, particularly under the nonequilibrium conditions prevalent in real-world applications. To address this, we develop a direct temperature readout scheme based on a thermodynamic inference strategy. The scheme integrates two conceptual developments: (i) By applying the maximum entropy principle with the thermometer's mean energy as a constraint, we assign a reference temperature to the nonequilibrium thermometer. We demonstrate that this reference temperature outperforms a commonly used effective temperature defined through equilibrium analogy. (ii) We obtain positive semi-definite error functions that lower-bound the deviation of the reference temperature from the true temperature-in analogy to the quantum Cramer-Rao bound for the mean squared error-and vanish upon thermalization with the sample. Combining the reference temperature with these error functions, we introduce a notion of corrected dynamical temperature which furnishes a postprocessed temperature readout under nonequilibrium conditions. This corrected dynamical temperature can be evaluated adaptively without prior knowledge of the actual temperature. We validate the corrected dynamical temperature in a qubit-based thermometer under a range of nonequilibrium initial states, confirming its capability to estimate the true temperature. Importantly, we find that increasing quantum coherence can enhance the precision of this readout.
We study the Bayesian approach to thermometry with no prior knowledge about the expected temperature scale, through the example of energy measurements on fully or partially thermalized qubit probes. We show that the most common Bayesian estimators, namely the mean and the median, lead to high-temperature divergences when used for uninformed thermometry. To circumvent this and achieve better overall accuracy, we propose two new estimators based on an optimization of relative deviations. Their global temperature-averaged behavior matches a modified van Trees bound, which complements the Cramer-Rao bound for smaller probe numbers and unrestricted temperature ranges. Furthermore, we show that, using partially thermalized probes, one can increase the range of temperatures to which the thermometer is sensitive at the cost of the local accuracy.
We introduce a general framework for thermometry based on collisional models, where ancillas probe the temperature of the environment through an intermediary system. This allows for the generation of correlated ancillas even if they are initially independent. Using tools from parameter estimation theory, we show through a minimal qubit model that individual ancillas can already outperform the thermal Cramer-Rao bound. In addition, due to the steady-state nature of our model, when measured collectively the ancillas always exhibit superlinear scalings of the Fisher information. This means that even collective measurements on pairs of ancillas will already lead to an advantage. As we find in our qubit model, such a feature may be particularly valuable for weak system-ancilla interactions. Our approach sets forth the notion of metrology in a sequential interactions setting, and may inspire further advances in quantum thermometry.