Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2211.11008 · IFAC-PapersOnLine

Complete Positivity Violation in Higher-order Quantum Adiabatic Elimination

Masaaki Tokieda, Cyril Elouard, Alain Sarlette, Pierre Rouchon

Published Jan 1, 2023• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

When a composite Lindblad system consists of weakly coupled sub-systems with fast and slow timescales, the description of slow dynamics can be simplified by discarding fast degrees of freedom. This model reduction technique is called adiabatic elimination. While second-order perturbative expansion with respect to the timescale separation has revealed that the evolution of a reduced state is completely positive, this paper presents an example exhibiting complete positivity violation in the fourth-order expansion. Despite the non-uniqueness of slow dynamics parametrization, we prove that complete positivity cannot be ensured in any parametrization. The violation stems from correlation in the initial state.

DOI
10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.10.1779

Related papers

Complete positivity violation of the reduced dynamics in higher-order quantum adiabatic elimination

Masaaki Tokieda, Cyril Elouard, Alain Sarlette +1 more

This paper discusses quantum adiabatic elimination, which is a model reduction technique for a composite Lindblad system consisting of a fast decaying subsystem coupled to another subsystem with a much slower timescale. Such a system features an invariant manifold that is close to the slow subsystem. This invariant manifold is reached subsequent to the decay of the fast degrees of freedom, after which the slow dynamics follow on it. By parametrizing the invariant manifold, the slow dynamics can be simulated via a reduced model. To find the evolution of the reduced state, we perform an asymptotic expansion with respect to the timescale separation. So far, the second-order expansion has mostly been considered. It has then been revealed that the second-order expansion of the reduced dynamics is generally given by a Lindblad equation, which ensures complete positivity of the time evolution. In this paper, we present two examples where complete positivity of the reduced dynamics is violated with higher-order contributions. In the first example, the violation is detected for the evolution of the partial trace without truncation of the asymptotic expansion. The partial trace is not the only way to parametrize the slow dynamics. Concerning this nonuniqueness, it was conjectured in [Quantum Sci. Technol. 2, 044011 (2017)] that there exists a parameter choice ensuring complete positivity. With the second example, however, we refute this conjecture by showing that complete positivity cannot be restored in any choice of parametrization. We discuss these results in terms of the invariant slow manifold consisting of quantum correlated states.

arXiv:2303.04495•Physical Review A•Jun 3, 2024•7 citations

Adiabatic elimination for open quantum systems with effective Lindblad master equations

Rémi Azouit, Alain Sarlette, Pierre Rouchon

We consider an open quantum system described by a Lindblad-type master equation with two time scales. The fast time scale is strongly dissipative and drives the system towards a low-dimensional decoherence-free space. To perform the adiabatic elimination of this fast relaxation, we propose a geometric asymptotic expansion based on the small positive parameter describing the time scale separation. This expansion exploits geometric singular perturbation theory and center-manifold techniques. We conjecture that, at any order, it provides an effective slow Lindblad master equation and a completely positive parameterization of the slow invariant sub-manifold associated to the low-dimensional decoherence-free space. By preserving complete positivity and trace, two important structural properties attached to open quantum dynamics, we obtain a reduced-order model that directly conveys a physical interpretation since it relies on effective Lindbladian descriptions of the slow evolution. At the first order, we derive simple formulae for the effective Lindblad master equation. For a specific type of fast dissipation, we show how any Hamiltonian perturbation yields Lindbladian second-order corrections to the first-order slow evolution governed by the Zeno-Hamiltonian. These results are illustrated on a composite system made of a strongly dissipative harmonic oscillator, the ancilla, weakly coupled to another quantum system.

arXiv:1603.04630•IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)•Dec 1, 2016•19 citations

Quantum adiabatic elimination at arbitrary order for photon number measurement

Alain Sarlette, Pierre Rouchon, Antoine Essig +2 more

Adiabatic elimination is a perturbative model reduction technique based on timescale separation and often used to simplify the description of composite quantum systems. We here analyze a quantum experiment where the perturbative expansion can be carried out to arbitrary order, such that: (i) we can formulate in the end an exact reduced model in quantum form; (ii) as the series provides accuracy for ever larger parameter values, we can discard any condition on the timescale separation, thereby analyzing the intermediate regime where the actual experiment is performing best; (iii) we can clarify the role of some gauge degrees of freedom in this model reduction technique.

arXiv:2001.02550•IFAC-PapersOnLine•Jan 1, 2020•8 citations

Structure-preserving adiabatic elimination for open bipartite quantum systems

Rémi Azouit, Francesca Carlotta Chittaro, Alain Sarlette +1 more

We consider a quantum system composed of a fast quantum subsystem coupled to a slow one. We provide expressions of the approximate reduced model describing the slow subsystem (adiabatic elimination), based on an asymptotic expansion that we solve up to second order. The specificity of our expressions is to preserve the quantum structure in the reduced model: we provide the reduced dynamics in Lindblad form, and the mapping defining the slow manifold as a completely positive map in Kraus form.

IFAC-PapersOnLine•Jul 1, 2017•4 citations

Towards generic adiabatic elimination for bipartite open quantum systems

Rémi Azouit, Francesca Carlotta Chittaro, Alain Sarlette +1 more

Abstract We consider a composite open quantum system consisting of a fast subsystem coupled to a slow one. Using the time scale separation, we develop an adiabatic elimination technique to derive at any order the reduced model describing the slow subsystem. The method, based on an asymptotic expansion and geometric singular perturbation theory, ensures the physical interpretation of the reduced second-order model by giving the reduced dynamics in a Lindblad form and the state reduction in Kraus map form. We give explicit second-order formulas for Hamiltonian or cascade coupling between the two subsystems. These formulas can be used to engineer, via a careful choice of the fast subsystem, the Hamiltonian and Lindbald operators governing the dissipative dynamics of the slow subsystem.

arXiv:1704.00785•Quantum Science and Technology•Sep 8, 2017•36 citations

Prodiabatic Elimination: Higher Order Elimination of Fast Variables with Quantum Noise

Jan Neuser, Marcelo Janovitch, Matteo Brunelli +1 more

We introduce the prodiabatic elimination, a powerful approximation technique that systematically extends the adiabatic elimination of fast degrees of freedom in light-matter coupled systems. Through a controlled expansion of operators, the prodiabatic elimination incorporates higher-order corrections and consistently includes noise contributions, leading to a significantly improved performance compared to standard adiabatic elimination. Importantly, it retains the simplicity and computational efficiency of the adiabatic elimination, making it convenient for practical applications. We demonstrate the approach on two setups: a driven dissipative Jaynes-Cummings model and a three-level system in a two-mode cavity that performs stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). These examples establish the prodiabatic elimination as a robust and broadly applicable tool for analyzing open quantum systems.

quant-pharXiv:2602.21896•Feb 26, 2026•0 citations
When a composite Lindblad system consists of weakly coupled sub-systems with fast and slow timescales, the description of slow dynamics can be simplified by discarding fast degrees of freedom. This model reduction technique is called adiabatic elimination. While second-order perturbative expansion with respect to the timescale separation has revealed that the evolution of a reduced state is completely positive, this paper presents an example exhibiting complete positivity violation in the fourth-order expansion. Despite the non-uniqueness of slow dynamics parametrization, we prove that complete positivity cannot be ensured in any parametrization. The violation stems from correlation in the initial state.
This paper discusses quantum adiabatic elimination, which is a model reduction technique for a composite Lindblad system consisting of a fast decaying subsystem coupled to another subsystem with a much slower timescale. Such a system features an invariant manifold that is close to the slow subsystem. This invariant manifold is reached subsequent to the decay of the fast degrees of freedom, after which the slow dynamics follow on it. By parametrizing the invariant manifold, the slow dynamics can be simulated via a reduced model. To find the evolution of the reduced state, we perform an asymptotic expansion with respect to the timescale separation. So far, the second-order expansion has mostly been considered. It has then been revealed that the second-order expansion of the reduced dynamics is generally given by a Lindblad equation, which ensures complete positivity of the time evolution. In this paper, we present two examples where complete positivity of the reduced dynamics is violated with higher-order contributions. In the first example, the violation is detected for the evolution of the partial trace without truncation of the asymptotic expansion. The partial trace is not the only way to parametrize the slow dynamics. Concerning this nonuniqueness, it was conjectured in [Quantum Sci. Technol. 2, 044011 (2017)] that there exists a parameter choice ensuring complete positivity. With the second example, however, we refute this conjecture by showing that complete positivity cannot be restored in any choice of parametrization. We discuss these results in terms of the invariant slow manifold consisting of quantum correlated states.
We consider an open quantum system described by a Lindblad-type master equation with two time scales. The fast time scale is strongly dissipative and drives the system towards a low-dimensional decoherence-free space. To perform the adiabatic elimination of this fast relaxation, we propose a geometric asymptotic expansion based on the small positive parameter describing the time scale separation. This expansion exploits geometric singular perturbation theory and center-manifold techniques. We conjecture that, at any order, it provides an effective slow Lindblad master equation and a completely positive parameterization of the slow invariant sub-manifold associated to the low-dimensional decoherence-free space. By preserving complete positivity and trace, two important structural properties attached to open quantum dynamics, we obtain a reduced-order model that directly conveys a physical interpretation since it relies on effective Lindbladian descriptions of the slow evolution. At the first order, we derive simple formulae for the effective Lindblad master equation. For a specific type of fast dissipation, we show how any Hamiltonian perturbation yields Lindbladian second-order corrections to the first-order slow evolution governed by the Zeno-Hamiltonian. These results are illustrated on a composite system made of a strongly dissipative harmonic oscillator, the ancilla, weakly coupled to another quantum system.
Adiabatic elimination is a perturbative model reduction technique based on timescale separation and often used to simplify the description of composite quantum systems. We here analyze a quantum experiment where the perturbative expansion can be carried out to arbitrary order, such that: (i) we can formulate in the end an exact reduced model in quantum form; (ii) as the series provides accuracy for ever larger parameter values, we can discard any condition on the timescale separation, thereby analyzing the intermediate regime where the actual experiment is performing best; (iii) we can clarify the role of some gauge degrees of freedom in this model reduction technique.
Abstract We consider a composite open quantum system consisting of a fast subsystem coupled to a slow one. Using the time scale separation, we develop an adiabatic elimination technique to derive at any order the reduced model describing the slow subsystem. The method, based on an asymptotic expansion and geometric singular perturbation theory, ensures the physical interpretation of the reduced second-order model by giving the reduced dynamics in a Lindblad form and the state reduction in Kraus map form. We give explicit second-order formulas for Hamiltonian or cascade coupling between the two subsystems. These formulas can be used to engineer, via a careful choice of the fast subsystem, the Hamiltonian and Lindbald operators governing the dissipative dynamics of the slow subsystem.
We introduce the prodiabatic elimination, a powerful approximation technique that systematically extends the adiabatic elimination of fast degrees of freedom in light-matter coupled systems. Through a controlled expansion of operators, the prodiabatic elimination incorporates higher-order corrections and consistently includes noise contributions, leading to a significantly improved performance compared to standard adiabatic elimination. Importantly, it retains the simplicity and computational efficiency of the adiabatic elimination, making it convenient for practical applications. We demonstrate the approach on two setups: a driven dissipative Jaynes-Cummings model and a three-level system in a two-mode cavity that performs stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). These examples establish the prodiabatic elimination as a robust and broadly applicable tool for analyzing open quantum systems.