We identify two broad types of noninvertibilities in quantum dynamical maps, one necessarily associated with CP indivisibility and one not so. We study the production of (non-)Markovian, invertible maps by the process of mixing noninvertible Pauli maps and quantify the fraction of the same. The memory kernel perspective appears to be less transparent on the issue of invertibility than the approaches based on maps or master equations. Here we consider a related and potentially helpful issue: the identification of criteria of parameterized families of maps leading to the existence of a well-defined semigroup limit.
We identify two broad types of noninvertibilities in quantum dynamical maps, one necessarily associated with CP indivisibility and one not so. We study the production of (non-)Markovian, invertible maps by the process of mixing noninvertible Pauli maps and quantify the fraction of the same. The memory kernel perspective appears to be less transparent on the issue of invertibility than the approaches based on maps or master equations. Here we consider a related and potentially helpful issue: the identification of criteria of parameterized families of maps leading to the existence of a well-defined semigroup limit.
The problem of defining quantum non-Markovianity has proven elusive, with various inequivalent criteria put forth to address it. We consider the question: what is the weakest notion of quantum non-Markovianity of system dynamics that would account for any aspect of memory? That is, a process indicated to be non-Markovian according to any existing criterion is also non-Markovian according to this criterion, but the converse may not be true. Correspondingly, we identify true memorylessness with the idea of the quantum dynamics being temporally self-similar, whereby the form of the intermediate map that propagates the state between two arbitrary time intervals is independent of the initial time t0. This is identified with the quantum dynamical semigroup (QDS), renewing advocacy for a familiar candidate. Of practical importance is that our weaker criterion is useful for indicating the non-Markovianity of CP-divisible channels that manifest an effect of counteracting decoherence. This is illustrated with the examples of power-law noise (PLN) and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Noise (OUN). For physically well motivated channels, we propose a geometric quantification of non-Markovianity according to our definition, which is shown to be applicable to stronger manifestations of quantum non-Markovianity, demonstrated here by application to various channels, including those that are CP-indivisible, P-indivisible and eternally non-Markovian. Finally, we indicate a few open questions that come up as natural consequences of this work.
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.
Quantum non-Markovianity of channels can be produced by mixing Markovian channels, as observed recently by various authors. We consider an analogous question of whether singularities of the channel can be produced by mixing nonsingular channels, i.e., ones that lack them. Here we answer the question in the negative in the context of qubit Pauli channels. On the other hand, mixing channels with a singularity can lead to the elimination of singularities in the resultant channel. We distinguish between two types of singular channels, which lead under mixing to broadly quite different properties of the singularity in the resultant channel. The connection to non-Markovianity (in the sense of completely positive indivisibility) is pointed out. These results impose nontrivial restrictions on the experimental realization of noninvertible quantum channels by a process of channel mixing.
We analyze the divisibility properties of generalized Pauli dynamical maps. Using the results for image non-increasing dynamical maps, we formulate the conditions for the underlying evolution to satisfy specific non-Markovianity criteria. For the qubit evolution, we find the necessary and sufficient conditions for P and CP-divisibility of the associated, in general noninvertible, Pauli dynamical maps. Finally, we analyze the divisibility degree for mixtures of noninvertible phase-damping channels. For P-divisible maps, we propose a legitimate time-local generator with all temporarily infinite decoherence rates.
We analyze the convex combinations of noninvertible generalized Pauli dynamical maps. By manipulating the mixing parameters, one can produce a channel with shifted singularities, additional singularities, or even no singularities whatsoever. In particular, we show how to use noninvertible dynamical maps to produce the Markovian semigroup. Interestingly, the maps whose mixing results in a semigroup are generated by the time-local generators and time-homogeneous memory kernels that are not regular; that is, their formulas contain infinities. Finally, we show how the generators and memory kernels change after mixing the corresponding dynamical maps.
A profound understanding of decoherence and dissipation in quantum dynamics is crucial for the realistic modeling of the evolution of quantum systems. In open quantum dynamics one distinguishes between a memoryless, so-called Markovian evolution and dynamics incorporating memory effects, termed non-Markovian. In this work we study how prevalent memory effects are in the set of all such dynamics. We thus investigate how often a Markovian description is applicable. This question is approached by investigating randomly generated two-step qubit dynamics with respect to different concepts and witnesses of non-Markovianity. We observe that almost all dynamics are non-Markovian, and only a small (yet finite) fraction is Markovian. Furthermore, we study how this proportion changes when considering certain subclasses such as lower rank or mixed-unitary dynamics. Importantly, our results shed light on the relative ratios of -- and interrelations between -- the sets of dynamics that are non-Markovian with respect to different criteria. Finally, we investigate the fraction of dynamics in which the memory effects are necessarily of quantum nature and establish a connection between two recently developed concepts that characterize the quantumness of memory in non-Markovian dynamics.