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arXiv:2606.30730

Controlling the non-Markovianity of quantum Brownian motion

Guglielmo Pellitteri, Vittorio Giovannetti, Vasco Cavina

quant-phcond-mat.stat-mechSubmitted Jun 29, 2026• Announced Jul 1, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We analyze the exact dynamics of a generalized quantum Brownian motion model, employing Gaussian master equation methods. We demonstrate that, by modulating the relative weights of specific interaction channels, we can control the degree of non-Markovianity of the system, and induce a transition from non-Markovian to Markovian regimes. The non-Markovianity of the evolution is formally characterized by leveraging the Gorini--Kossakowski--Sudarshan--Lindblad theorem and by employing quantitative measures of information backflow. Finally, we clarify the physical mechanism behind the phenomenology of this model, thereby providing a systematic platform for environment engineering through the strategic tuning of dissipation channels.

Comments
6 pages + 13 pages of appendices, 4 figures

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We develop a non-Markovian extension to the caldeira-leggett master equation for quantum Brownian motion by using the timescale of the bath as a small parameter around which to perform a perturbative expansion. This framework allows us to deal directly with the time non-locality of the non-Markovian regime. We derive an exact description of the evolution of the reduced density matrix and obtain a new quantum master equa- tion with non-Markovian corrections added perturbatively to the standard Lindblad form. The resulting simulations show new dynamics and a strong deviation from Markovian behaviour. We observe that quantum coherences survive far longer than in the Marko- vian limit. In particular, when the system is fully non-Markovian, quantum phenomena experience a form of decoherence that behaves functionally like an inverse-power law. These results may have important implications in quantum technologies and biology as they suggest environments can be engineered to support long-lived quantum coherence.
One of the main goals of the theory of open quantum systems is to devise methods which help preserve the quantum properties of a system interacting with its environment.One possible pathway to achieve this goal is to use non-Markovian reservoirs, characterized by information backflows and revivals of certain quantum properties.These reservoirs usually require advanced engineering techniques, which may turn their implementation impractical.In this dissertation we propose an alternative technique: the injection of a classical colored noise, which induces the desired quantum non-Markovianity.In order to do that, we investigate the dynamics of a quantum system interacting with its surrounding environment and under the injection of a classical stochastic colored noise.A time-local master equation for the system is derived by using the stochastic wave function formalism and functional calculus.Afterwards, the non-Markovianity of the evolution is detected by using the Andersson, Cresser, Hall and Li measure, which is based on the decay rates of the master equation in canonical Lindblad-like form.Finally, we evaluate the measure for three different colored noises and study the interplay between environment and noise pump necessary to induce quantum non-Markovianity, as well as the energy balance of the system.
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We obtain a Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad-like master equation for two or more quantum systems connected locally to a combination of Markovian and non-Markovian heat baths. The master equation was originally formulated for multiparty systems with either exclusively Markovian or non-Markovian environments. We extend it to encompass the case of multiple quantum systems connected to a mixture of Markovian and non-Markovian heat baths. The coexistence of both non-Markovian and Markovian environments is a plausible scenario, particularly when studying hybrid physical systems such as atom-photon arrangements. We analyze the thermodynamic quantities for such a set of local environments, and derive a modified form of the Spohn's theorem for the setup. The modification of the theorem naturally leads to a witness as well as an easily computable quantifier of non-Markovianity. Expectedly, we find that for multiparty situations, where a combination of Markovian and non-Markovian heat baths are active, the response in thermodynamic system characteristics due to non-Markovian baths is prominent at times close to the initial time of evolution, whereas the long-time behavior is predominantly controlled by the Markovian ones.
We study quantum non-Markovian dynamics of the Caldeira-Leggett model, a prototypical model for quantum Brownian motion describing a harmonic oscillator linearly coupled to a reservoir of harmonic oscillators. Employing the exact analytical solution of this model one can determine the size of memory effects for arbitrary couplings, temperatures, and frequency cutoffs. Here, quantum non-Markovianity is defined in terms of the flow of information between the open system and its environment, which is quantified through the Bures metric as distance measure for quantum states. This approach allows us to discuss quantum memory effects in the whole range from weak to strong dissipation for arbitrary Gaussian initial states. A comparison of our results with the corresponding results for the spin-boson problem show a remarkable similarity in the structure of non-Markovian behavior of the two paradigmatic models.