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arXiv:2402.09680 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Tradeoff relations in open quantum dynamics via Robertson, Maccone–Pati, and Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty relations

Tomohiro Nishiyama, Yoshihiko Hasegawa

Published Sep 11, 2024• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract The Heisenberg uncertainty relation, together with Robertson’s generalisation, serves as a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics, showing that noncommutative pairs of observables cannot be measured precisely. In this study, we explore the Robertson-type uncertainty relations to demonstrate their effectiveness in establishing a series of thermodynamic uncertainty relations and quantum speed limits in open quantum dynamics. The derivation utilises a scaled continuous matrix product state representation that maps the time evolution of the quantum continuous measurement to the time evolution of the system and field. Specifically, we consider the Maccone–Pati uncertainty relation, a refinement of the Robertson uncertainty relation, to derive thermodynamic uncertainty relations and quantum speed limits. These newly derived relations, which use a state orthogonal to the initial state, yield bounds that are tighter than previously known bounds. Moreover, we consider the Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty, which extends the Robertson uncertainty relation. Our findings not only reinforce the significance of the Robertson-type uncertainty relations, but also expand its applicability in identifying uncertainty relations in open quantum dynamics.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8121/ad79cd

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Abstract The Heisenberg uncertainty relation, together with Robertson’s generalisation, serves as a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics, showing that noncommutative pairs of observables cannot be measured precisely. In this study, we explore the Robertson-type uncertainty relations to demonstrate their effectiveness in establishing a series of thermodynamic uncertainty relations and quantum speed limits in open quantum dynamics. The derivation utilises a scaled continuous matrix product state representation that maps the time evolution of the quantum continuous measurement to the time evolution of the system and field. Specifically, we consider the Maccone–Pati uncertainty relation, a refinement of the Robertson uncertainty relation, to derive thermodynamic uncertainty relations and quantum speed limits. These newly derived relations, which use a state orthogonal to the initial state, yield bounds that are tighter than previously known bounds. Moreover, we consider the Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty, which extends the Robertson uncertainty relation. Our findings not only reinforce the significance of the Robertson-type uncertainty relations, but also expand its applicability in identifying uncertainty relations in open quantum dynamics.
Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians play a crucial role in describing open quantum systems and nonequilibrium dynamics. In this paper, we derive trade-off relations for systems governed by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, focusing on the Margolus-Levitin-type and Mandelstam-Tamm-type bounds, which are originally derived as quantum speed limits in isolated quantum dynamics. While the quantum speed limit for the Mandelstam-Tamm bound in general non-Hermitian systems was derived in the literature, we obtain a Mandelstam-Tamm quantum speed limit for continuous measurement using the continuous matrix product state formalism. Moreover, we derive a Margolus-Levitin quantum speed limit in the non-Hermitian setting. We derive additional bounds on the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean of an observable, which take the same form as the thermodynamic uncertainty relation. As an example, we apply these bounds to the continuous measurement formalism in open quantum dynamics, where the dynamics is described by discontinuous jumps and smooth evolution induced by the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. Our work provides a unified perspective on the quantum speed limit and thermodynamic uncertainty relations in open quantum dynamics from the viewpoint of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, extending the results of previous studies.
The existence of incompatible observables constitutes one of the most prominent characteristics of quantum mechanics (QM) and can be revealed and formalized through uncertainty relations. The Heisenberg-Robertson-Schrödinger uncertainty relation (HRSUR) was proved at the dawn of quantum formalism and is ever-present in the teaching and research on QM. Notwithstanding, the HRSUR possess the so called triviality problem. That is to say, the HRSUR yields no information about the possible incompatibility between two observables if the system was prepared in a state which is an eigenvector of one of them. After about 85 years of existence of the HRSUR, this problem was solved recently by Lorenzo Maccone and Arun K. Pati. In this article, we start doing a brief discussion of general aspects of the uncertainty principle in QM and recapitulating the proof of HRSUR. Afterwards we present in simple terms the proof of the Maccone-Pati uncertainty relation, which can be obtained basically via the application of the parallelogram law and Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.
We derive a thermodynamic uncertainty relation for general open quantum dynamics, described by a joint unitary evolution on a composite system comprising a system and an environment. By measuring the environmental state after the system-environment interaction, we bound the counting observables in the environment by the survival activity, which reduces to the dynamical activity in classical Markov processes. Remarkably, the relation derived herein holds for general open quantum systems with any counting observable and any initial state. Therefore, our relation is satisfied for classical Markov processes with arbitrary time-dependent transition rates and initial states. We apply our relation to continuous measurement and the quantum walk to find that the quantum nature of the system can enhance the precision. Moreover, we can make the lower bound arbitrarily small by employing appropriate continuous measurement.
Fundamental trade-off relations, such as quantum speed limit and quantum thermodynamic uncertainty relation, describe the performance limits of quantum systems by imposing that improvements in speed or precision necessitate a substantial thermodynamic cost. Quantum feedback control, which is a pivotal technique for manipulating quantum dynamics based on measurement outcomes, is widely employed to enhance system performance. Nevertheless, its impact on these fundamental bounds remains an open question. This work elucidates this influence by establishing a theoretical framework for quantum speed limit and quantum thermodynamic uncertainty relation under a paradigmatic Markovian feedback protocol. We derive general inequalities incorporating the effects of feedback control on speed and precision. Through numerical simulations on a simple two-level system and quantum error correction, a key application of quantum feedback control, we validate our derived bounds and demonstrate that feedback control can indeed improve both speed and precision beyond those achievable limits in uncontrolled systems. Next, to elucidate the mechanism behind these improvements and the qualitative difference from uncontrolled dynamics, we analyze the governing thermodynamic costs, which are the fundamental quantities that constrain speed and precision, within a simple model. Our analysis reveals that feedback can improve the time scaling order of these costs. This modification of the dynamical scaling is the origin of the qualitative performance gain, signifying that the feedback-induced improvements of performance are not merely quantitative but represent a fundamental shift. Consequently, our work offers a comprehensive understanding of how feedback control impacts the fundamental limits on the speed and precision of quantum systems, providing crucial insights for designing high-performance quantum technologies.
Recently, Maccone and Pati [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 113}, 260401 (2014)] derived few inequalities among variances of incompatible operators which they called stronger uncertainty relations, stronger than Heisenberg-Robertson or Schrodinger uncertainty relations. Here we generalize their study to get infinite number of such inequalities and propose that only one of them may be the correct uncertainty relation between incompatible operators. We get back well known uncertainty relations of Heisenberg-Robertson and Schrodinger under certain limits. We also reexamine the conclusions of Maccone and Pati and comment on their work.
The Heisenberg-Robertson uncertainty relation quantitatively expresses the impossibility of jointly sharp preparation of incompatible observables. However, it does not capture the concept of incompatible observables because it can be trivial even for two incompatible observables. We experimentally demonstrate that the new stronger uncertainty relations proposed by Maccone and Pati [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 260401 (2014)] relating to the sum of variances are valid in a state-dependent manner and that the lower bound is guaranteed to be nontrivial when two observables are incompatible on the state of the system being measured. The behavior we find agrees with the predictions of quantum theory and obeys the new uncertainty relations even for the special states which trivialize the Heisenberg-Robertson relation. We realize a direct measurement model and perform an experimental investigation of the strengthened relations.