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arXiv:2203.10625 · International Journal of Quantum Information

On the eternal non-Markovianity of non-unital quantum channels

Shrikant Utagi, Subhashish Banerjee, R. Srikanth

Published Oct 6, 2023• 3 citations
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Abstract

The eternally non-Markovian (ENM) Pauli channel is an example of a unital channel characterized by a negative decay rate for all time [Formula: see text]. Here, we consider the problem of constructing an analogous non-unital channel, and show in particular that a [Formula: see text]-dimensional generalized amplitude damping (GAD) channel cannot be ENM when the non-Markovianity originates solely from the non-unital part of the channel. We study specific ramifications of this result for qubit GAD. Specifically, we construct a quasi-ENM qubit GAD channel, characterized by a time [Formula: see text], such that the channel is non-Markovian (NM) only and for all time [Formula: see text]. We further point out that our negative result for the qudit GAD channel, namely, the impossibility of the eternal NM property, does not hold for a general qubit or higher-dimensional non-unital channel.

DOI
10.1142/s0219749923500399

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The eternally non-Markovian (ENM) Pauli channel is an example of a unital channel characterized by a negative decay rate for all time [Formula: see text]. Here, we consider the problem of constructing an analogous non-unital channel, and show in particular that a [Formula: see text]-dimensional generalized amplitude damping (GAD) channel cannot be ENM when the non-Markovianity originates solely from the non-unital part of the channel. We study specific ramifications of this result for qubit GAD. Specifically, we construct a quasi-ENM qubit GAD channel, characterized by a time [Formula: see text], such that the channel is non-Markovian (NM) only and for all time [Formula: see text]. We further point out that our negative result for the qudit GAD channel, namely, the impossibility of the eternal NM property, does not hold for a general qubit or higher-dimensional non-unital channel.
We study a class of qubit non-Markovian general Pauli dynamical maps with multiple singularities in the generator. We discuss a few easy examples involving trigonometric or other nonmonotonic time dependence of the map, and discuss in detail the structure of channels which don’t have any trigonometric functional dependence. We demystify the concept of a singularity here, showing that it corresponds to a point where the dynamics can be regular but the map is momentarily noninvertible, and this gives a basic guideline to construct such non-invertible non-Markovian channels. Most members of the channels in the considered family are quasi-eternally non-Markovian (QENM), which is a broader class of non-Markovian channels than the eternal non-Markovian channels. Specifically, the measure of quasi-eternal non-Markovian (QENM) channels in the considered class is shown to be [Formula: see text] in the isotropic case, and about 0.96 in the anisotropic case.
The theoretical description of quantum dynamics in an intriguing way does not necessarily imply the underlying dynamics is indeed intriguing. Here we show how a known very interesting master equation with an always negative decay rate [eternal non-Markovianity (ENM)] arises from simple stochastic Schrödinger dynamics (random unitary dynamics). Equivalently, it may be seen as arising from a mixture of Markov (semi-group) open system dynamics. Both these approaches lead to a more general family of CPT maps, characterized by a point within a parameter triangle. Our results show how ENM quantum dynamics can be realised easily in the laboratory. Moreover, we find a quantum time-continuously measured (quantum trajectory) realisation of the dynamics of the ENM master equation based on unitary transformations and projective measurements in an extended Hilbert space, guided by a classical Markov process. Furthermore, a Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad (GKSL) representation of the dynamics in an extended Hilbert space can be found, with a remarkable property: there is no dynamics in the ancilla state. Finally, analogous constructions for two qubits extend these results from non-CP-divisible to non-P-divisible dynamics.
Pauli channels are widely used to describe errors in quantum computers, particularly when noise is shaped via Pauli twirling. A common assumption is that such channels admit a Markovian generator, namely a Pauli-Lindblad model with non-negative rates, but the validity of this assumption has not been systematically examined. Here, using CP-indivisibility as our criterion for non-Markovianity, we study multi-qubit Pauli channels from a single snapshot of the dynamics. We find that while the generator always has the same structure as the standard Pauli-Lindblad model, the rates may be negative or complex. We show that random Pauli channels are almost always non-Markovian, with the probability of encountering a negative rate converging doubly exponentially to unity with the number of qubits. For physically motivated noise models shaped by Pauli twirling, including single-qubit over-rotations and two-qubit amplitude damping errors, we find that negative rates are generic, even when the underlying physical noise is Markovian. We generalize probabilistic error amplification and cancellation to non-Markovian generators, and quantify the sampling overhead introduced by negative and complex rates. Experiments on superconducting qubits confirm that allowing negative rates in the learned noise model yields more accurate predictions than restricting to non-negative rates.
The theoretical description of quantum dynamics in an intriguing way does not necessarily imply the underlying dynamics is indeed intriguing. Here we show how a known very interesting master equation with an always negative decay rate [eternal non-Markovianity (ENM)] arises from simple stochastic Schr\odinger dynamics (random unitary dynamics). Equivalently, it may be seen as arising from a mixture of Markov (semi-group) open system dynamics. Both these approaches lead to a more general family of CPT maps, characterized by a point within a parameter triangle. Our results show how ENM quantum dynamics can be realised easily in the laboratory without having to resort on any kind of memory. Remarkably, we find a quantum time-continuously measured (quantum trajectory) realisation of the dynamics of the ENM master equation based on unitary transformations and projective measurements in an extended Hilbert space, guided by a classical Markov process.
The generalized amplitude damping channel (GADC) is considered an important model for quantum communications, especially over optical networks. We make two salient contributions in this paper apropos of this channel. First, we consider a symmetric GAD channel characterized by the parameter n=1/2,n=1/2,n=1/2, and derive its exact classical capacity, by constructing a specific induced classical channel. We show that the Holevo quantity for the GAD channel equals the Shannon capacity of the induced binary symmetric channel, establishing at once the capacity result and that the GAD channel capacity can be achieved without the use of entanglement at the encoder or joint measurements at the decoder. Second, motivated by the inevitable buffering of qubits in quantum networks, we consider a generalized amplitude damping \emph{queue-channel} -- that is, a setting where qubits suffer a waiting time dependent GAD noise as they wait in a buffer to be transmitted. This GAD queue channel is characterized by non-i.i.d. noise due to correlated waiting times of consecutive qubits. We exploit a conditional independence property in conjunction with additivity of the channel model, to obtain a capacity expression for the GAD queue channel in terms of the stationary waiting time in the queue. Our results provide useful insights towards designing practical quantum communication networks, and highlight the need to explicitly model the impact of buffering.