In the case of a quantum-classical hybrid system with a finite number of degrees of freedom, the problem of characterizing the most general dynamical semigroup is solved, under the restriction of being quasi-free. This is a generalization of a Gaussian dynamics, and it is defined by the property of sending (hybrid) Weyl operators into Weyl operators in the Heisenberg description. The result is a quantum generalization of the Lévy–Khintchine formula; Gaussian and jump contributions are included. As a byproduct, the most general quasi-free quantum-dynamical semigroup is obtained; on the classical side the Liouville equation and the Kolmogorov–Fokker–Planck equation are included. As a classical subsystem can be observed, in principle, without perturbing it, information can be extracted from the quantum system, even in continuous time; indeed, the whole construction is related to the theory of quantum measurements in continuous time. While the dynamics is formulated to give the hybrid state at a generic time [Formula: see text], we show how to extract multi-time probabilities and how to connect them to the quantum notions of positive operator-valued measure and instrument. The structure of the generator of the dynamical semigroup is analyzed, in order to understand how to go on to non-quasi-free cases and to understand the possible classical-quantum interactions; in particular, all the interaction terms which allow to extract information from the quantum system necessarily vanish if no dissipation is present in the dynamics of the quantum component. A concrete example is given, showing how a classical component can input noise into a quantum one and how the classical system can extract information on the behavior of the quantum one.
In the case of a quantum-classical hybrid system with a finite number of degrees of freedom, the problem of characterizing the most general dynamical semigroup is solved, under the restriction of being quasi-free. This is a generalization of a Gaussian dynamics, and it is defined by the property of sending (hybrid) Weyl operators into Weyl operators in the Heisenberg description. The result is a quantum generalization of the Lévy–Khintchine formula; Gaussian and jump contributions are included. As a byproduct, the most general quasi-free quantum-dynamical semigroup is obtained; on the classical side the Liouville equation and the Kolmogorov–Fokker–Planck equation are included. As a classical subsystem can be observed, in principle, without perturbing it, information can be extracted from the quantum system, even in continuous time; indeed, the whole construction is related to the theory of quantum measurements in continuous time. While the dynamics is formulated to give the hybrid state at a generic time [Formula: see text], we show how to extract multi-time probabilities and how to connect them to the quantum notions of positive operator-valued measure and instrument. The structure of the generator of the dynamical semigroup is analyzed, in order to understand how to go on to non-quasi-free cases and to understand the possible classical-quantum interactions; in particular, all the interaction terms which allow to extract information from the quantum system necessarily vanish if no dissipation is present in the dynamics of the quantum component. A concrete example is given, showing how a classical component can input noise into a quantum one and how the classical system can extract information on the behavior of the quantum one.
Abstract Quantum trajectory techniques have been used in the theory of open systems as a starting point for numerical computations and to describe the monitoring of a quantum system in continuous time. We extend this technique to develop a general approach to the dynamics of quantum/classical hybrid systems. By using two coupled stochastic differential equations, we can describe a classical component and a quantum one which have their own intrinsic dynamics and which interact with each other. A mathematically rigorous construction is given, under the restriction of having a Markovian joint dynamics and of involving only bounded operators on the Hilbert space of the quantum component. An important feature is that, if the interaction allows for a flow of information from the quantum component to the classical one, necessarily the dynamics is dissipative. We show also how this theory is connected to a suitable hybrid dynamical semigroup, which reduces to a quantum dynamical semigroup in the purely quantum case and includes Liouville and Kolmogorov–Fokker–Planck equations in the purely classical case. Moreover, this semigroup allows to compare the proposed stochastic dynamics with various other proposals based on hybrid master equations. Some simple examples are constructed in order to show the variety of physical behaviors which can be described; in particular, a model presenting hidden entanglement is introduced.
The classical noise is unavoided in the real world. In what way classical part impact quantum dynamics and whether classical part impact controllability of quantum system have become problems. To figure out these two problems, we focus on a specific hybrid system which is both quasi-free and Markov. Because of its quasi-free property, the hybrid system comprising an open quantum system and a classical stochastic process possesses a distinct transformation formula that determines its dynamical semigroup. All these discussions are described by Weyl operators which also constitue the observable space. The controllability of reduced quantum system is first discussed, given its likely Lindblad form. The drift term is consisted of both classical information and quantum information. By adding classical control term in drift term, the controllability is analyzed using LARC(Lie Algebra Rank Condition). We discover that the reduced quantum system is fully controllable under certain controls. When we take classical information as a control, the reduced quantum system is fully controllable without external input. And the same conclusions hold in hybrid system.
We study continuous variable systems, in which quantum and classical degrees of freedom are combined and treated on the same footing. Thus all systems, including the inputs or outputs to a channel, may be quantum-classical hybrids. This allows a unified treatment of a large variety of quantum operations involving measurements or dependence on classical parameters. The basic variables are given by canonical operators with scalar commutators. Some variables may commute with all others and hence generate a classical subsystem. We systematically study the class of "quasifree" operations, which are characterized equivalently either by an intertwining condition for phase-space translations or by the requirement that, in the Heisenberg picture, Weyl operators are mapped to multiples of Weyl operators. This includes the well-known Gaussian operations, evolutions with quadratic Hamiltonians, and "linear Bosonic channels", but allows for much more general kinds of noise. For example, all states are quasifree. We sketch the analysis of quasifree preparation, measurement, repeated observation, cloning, teleportation, dense coding, the setup for the classical limit, and some aspects of irreversible dynamics, together with the precise salient tradeoffs of uncertainty, error, and disturbance. Although the spaces of observables and states are infinite dimensional for every non-trivial system that we consider, we treat the technicalities related to this in a uniform and conclusive way, providing a calculus that is both easy to use and fully rigorous.
A concise and self-contained derivation of hybrid quantum-classical dynamics is given in terms of Markovian master equations. Many previously known results are rederived and revised and some of them are completed or corrected. Using a method as simple as possible, our goal is a brief introduction to the state of the art of hybrid dynamics, with a limited discussion of the implications for foundations and without discussion of further relevance in the measurement problem, quantum gravity, chemistry, numeric methods, etc. Hybrid dynamics is defined as a special case of composite quantum dynamics where the observables of one of the two subsystems are restricted to the commuting set of diagonal operators in a fixed basis. With this restriction, the derivation of hybrid dynamical equations is clear conceptually and simple technically. Jump and diffusive dynamics follow in the form of hybrid master equations. Their stochastic interpretation (called unravelings) is derived. We discuss gauge-type ambiguities, problems of uniqueness, and covariance of the diffusive master equation. Also conditions of minimum noise and of monitoring the quantum trajectory are derived. We conclude that the hybrid formalism is equivalent to the standard Markovian theory of time-continuous quantum measurement (monitoring) on the one hand and is a motivating alternative formalism on the other.
Quantum stochastic master equations of jump type are formulated in a general way and connections with quantum/classical hybrid systems and quantum filtering theory are discussed. By introducing the notion of ``typical trajectory", we show how to recursively construct the solution of the non-linear stochastic master equation (the conditional state). Moreover, by the notion of ``exclusive probability densities" we can describe all the probabilities related to the jumps, in particular, the waiting times of the jumps and their probability distributions. This general formulation and the idea of hybrid system allow to unify and generalize different fields: evolutions under non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, unitary dynamics interspersed by quantum channels at random times, quantum renewal processes, continuous time open quantum walks, Lindblad rate equation, ...
In this paper we demonstrate that any Markovian master equation defining a completely positive evolution for a quantum–classical hybrid state can always be written in terms of four basic coupling mechanisms. Each of them is characterized by a different “backaction” on each subsystem. On this basis, for each case, we find the conditions under which a diffusive limit is approached, that is, the time evolution can be approximated in terms of the first and second derivatives of the hybrid state with respect to a classical coordinate. In this limit, the restricted class of evolutions that guaranty the positivity of the hybrid state at all times (quantum Fokker-Planck master equations) emerges when the coupling mechanisms lead to infinitesimal (non-finite) changes in both the quantum and classical subsystems. A broader class of diffusive evolutions is obtained when positivity is only granted after a transient time or alternatively is granted after imposing an initial finite width on the state of the classical subsystem. A set of representative examples support these results.