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arXiv:2401.14986 · Physical Review A

Integrability and chaos in the quantum brachistochrone problem

Savvas Malikis, Vadim Cheianov

Published Aug 2, 2024• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The quantum brachistochrone problem addresses the fundamental challenge of achieving the quantum speed limit in applications aiming to realize a given unitary operation in a quantum system. Specifically, it looks into optimization of the transformation of quantum states through controlled Hamiltonians, which form a small subset in the space of the system's observables. Here we introduce a broad family of completely integrable brachistochrone protocols, which arise from a judicious choice of the control Hamiltonian subset. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the inherent stability of the completely integrable protocols makes them numerically tractable and therefore practicable as opposed to their nonintegrable counterparts.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.110.022205

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The quantum brachistochrone problem addresses the fundamental challenge of achieving the quantum speed limit in applications aiming to realize a given unitary operation in a quantum system. Specifically, it looks into optimization of the transformation of quantum states through controlled Hamiltonians, which form a small subset in the space of the system's observables. Here we introduce a broad family of completely integrable brachistochrone protocols, which arise from a judicious choice of the control Hamiltonian subset. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the inherent stability of the completely integrable protocols makes them numerically tractable and therefore practicable as opposed to their nonintegrable counterparts.
Most methods of optimal control cannot obtain accurate time-optimal protocols. The quantum brachistochrone equation is an exception, and has the potential to provide accurate time-optimal protocols for a wide range of quantum control problems. So far, this potential has not been realized, however, due to the inadequacy of conventional numerical methods to solve it. Here we show that the quantum brachistochrone problem can be recast as that of finding geodesic paths in the space of unitary operators. We expect this brachistochrone-geodesic connection to have broad applications, as it opens up minimal-time control to the tools of geometry. As one such application, we use it to obtain a fast numerical method to solve the brachistochrone problem, and apply this method to two examples demonstrating its power.
Minimum-time quantum control protocols can be obtained from the quantum brachistochrone formalism [Carlini, Hosoya, Koike, and Okudaira, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 06053, (2006)]. We point out that the original treatment implicitly applied the variational calculus with fixed boundary conditions. We argue that the genuine quantum brachistochrone problem involves a variational problem with a movable endpoint, contrary to the classical brachistochrone problem. This formulation not only simplifies the derivation of the quantum brachistochrone equation but introduces an additional constraint at the endpoint due to the boundary effect. We present the general solution to the full quantum brachistochrone equation and discuss its main features. Using it, we prove that the speed of evolution under constraints is reduced with respect to the unrestricted case. In addition, we find that solving the quantum brachistochrone equation is closely connected to solving the dynamics of the Lagrange multipliers, which is in general governed by nonlinear differential equations. Their numerical integration allows generating time-extremal trajectories. Furthermore, when the restricted operators form a closed subalgebra, the Lagrange multipliers become constant and the optimal Hamiltonian takes a concise form. The new class of analytically solvable models for the quantum brachistochrone problem opens up the possibility of applying it to many-body quantum systems, exploring notions related to geometry such as quantum speed limits, and advancing significantly the quantum state and gate preparation for quantum information processing.
Compared with many other methods which only give time sub-optimal designs, the quantum brachistochrone equation has a great potential to provide accurate time-optimal protocols for essentially any quantum control problem. So far it has been of limited use, however, due to the inadequacy of conventional numerical methods to solve it. Here, using differential geometry, we reformulate the quantum brachistochrone curves as geodesics on the unitary group. This identification allows us to design a numerical method that can efficiently solve the brachistochrone problem by first solving a family of geodesic equations.
We present a general framework for finding the time-optimal quantum evolution inspired by the classical problem called the brachistochrone problem.At first, the time-optimal control problem for achieving a pure state evolution from a given initial state to a desired final state is formulated.We minimize the duration time for this transition by finding the optimal control for the Hamiltonian in an available set subject to a certain constraint dictated by physical conditions.Then, it will be extended to the unitary evolution which has greater relevance for quantum computation.This provides a systematic way to make an efficient unitary gate on a certain physical system.To demonstrate this framework, we choose the anisotropic Heisenberg model and find a general solution.Since it is not always possible to find a general solution for the fundamental equation for the time-optimal control, we introduce the simulated annealing method as a simple numerical method to show that our framework can be used for the system whose general solution cannot be found.The numerical analysis based on the Krotov iteration method is introduced and applied to the time-optimal quantum control problem to solve the problem efficiently.The optimal realization of the quantum Fourier transform for two or more qubit systems are derived.We consider two generalizations of the quantum brachistochrone for mixed state evolutions.One is the unitary evolution with ancilla system ended up with the final measurement on the ancilla.The other is the repetition of measurement or decoherence model which can be represented by the evolution with the master equation in the Lindblad form.Also, the relation between the fidelity to the target and the duration time is considerd.A.4 Quantum speed limit . . . . . . . . .
Time-efficient control schemes for manipulating quantum systems are of great importance in quantum technologies, where environmental forces rapidly degrade the quality of pure states over time. In this Letter, we formulate an approach to time-optimal control that circumvents the boundary-value problem that plagues the quantum brachistochrone equation at the expense of relaxing the form of the control Hamiltonian. In this setting, a coupled system of equations, one for the control Hamiltonian and another one for the duration of the protocol, realizes an ansatz-free approach to quantum control theory. We show how driven systems, in the form of a Landau-Zener type Hamiltonian, can be efficiently maneuvered to speed up a given state transformation in a highly adiabatic manner and with a low energy cost.