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Quantum Dynamics in Various Noise Scenarios

Yu Li

Published May 15, 2020• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We provide an alternative derivation of a master equation formalism for open quantum systems and apply it to illustrative examples. Using this formalism, we show that generally there can be interference between non-interacting baths on a system's reduced dynamics, confirming results in Phys. Rev. A 89, 042117 (2014). However, we also find that, up to second order, such interference vanishes as long as the baths are initially statistically independent, thereby identifying a satisfiable condition for non-interference. We use a two-dimensional series expansion method to develop a master equation formalism that deals with the effects of both system-environment interaction and classical noise on a system's dynamics in a unified manner. We apply this formalism to the example of a Zeeman-splitted atom in a stochastic B-field interacting with an optical cavity and find that the atom's total decoherence rate is, up to second order, a simple sum of the decoherence rate due to the atom-cavity interaction alone and that due to the stochastic B-field alone. We also develop a formalism for the dynamics of the (marginal) probability density of open classical systems in a similar fashion as the master equation formalism for open quantum systems.

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We provide an alternative derivation of a master equation formalism for open quantum systems and apply it to illustrative examples. Using this formalism, we show that generally there can be interference between non-interacting baths on a system's reduced dynamics, confirming results in Phys. Rev. A 89, 042117 (2014). However, we also find that, up to second order, such interference vanishes as long as the baths are initially statistically independent, thereby identifying a satisfiable condition for non-interference. We use a two-dimensional series expansion method to develop a master equation formalism that deals with the effects of both system-environment interaction and classical noise on a system's dynamics in a unified manner. We apply this formalism to the example of a Zeeman-splitted atom in a stochastic B-field interacting with an optical cavity and find that the atom's total decoherence rate is, up to second order, a simple sum of the decoherence rate due to the atom-cavity interaction alone and that due to the stochastic B-field alone. We also develop a formalism for the dynamics of the (marginal) probability density of open classical systems in a similar fashion as the master equation formalism for open quantum systems.
We develop a new master equation as a unified description of the effects of both quantum noise (system-bath interaction) and classical noise on a system's dynamics, using a two-dimensional series expansion method. When quantum and classical noises are both present, their combined effect on a system's dynamics is not necessarily a simple sum of the two individual effects. Thus previous master equations for open systems and those for classical noise, even when jointly used, may not capture the full physics. Our formalism can determine whether there is interference between quantum and classical noises and will be able to capture and describe such interference if there is any (in a perturbative manner). We find that, interestingly, second-order interference between quantum and classical noises vanishes identically. This work thus also serves to justify simple additive treatments of quantum and classical noises, especially in the weak coupling regime. For a Zeeman-splitted atom in a stochastic magnetic field interacting with an optical cavity, we use the formalism developed herein to find the overall decoherence rate between the atom's energy levels.
We use a master equation to provide a proof of interference between noninteracting baths on a system’s reduced dynamics, agreeing with a result in . Here, we provide a formula for the details of leading-order interference. We illustrate the use of such interference toward suppressing (even freezing) decoherence with a simplest example and identify what determines the extent of decoherence suppression. However, we find that interference of baths vanishes (up to second order) as long as the baths are initially separable, thereby identifying a “low-bar” condition for noninterference. This finding provides strong justification for the widely used “additive assumption” in weak coupling regime. We discuss how this noninterference finding sheds light on the “puzzle” of vanishing second-order interference in the joint scenario of quantum and classical noises in . We also provide a general proof of interference between two baths under stochastic coupling, in contrast to the study of deterministic coupling in the literature. We demonstrate decoherence suppression with an example of a central spin stochastically coupled to two environmental spins. We find that two baths will cease to interfere (up to second order) if the two baths are initially separable and the system’s stochastic coupling strengths with the two baths are uncorrelated.
We develop a formally exact master equation to describe the evolution of the average density matrix of a closed quantum system driven by a stochastic Hamiltonian. The average over stochastic processes generally results in decoherence effects in closed system dynamics, in addition to the unitary evolution. We then show that, for an important class of problems in which the Hamiltonian is proportional to a Gaussian random process, the 2nd-order master equation yields exact dynamics. The general formalism is applied to study the examples of a two-level system, two atoms in a stochastic magnetic field and the heating of a trapped ion, where we find phenomena such as decoherence-induced disentanglement.
This thesis investigates two thematic lines of research, both underpinned by non-Markovian system-reservoir interactions in quantum optics. The overarching focus is on modelling the open system dynamics in a non-perturbative fashion, broadly on - though not restricted to - instances when the environment is structured. A theory is developed by means of enlarging the open system over environmental degrees of freedom to include memory effects in its dynamics. This is achieved using an established technique that involves mapping a bosonic environment onto a 1D chain of harmonic oscillators. Within this setting, we apply a Heisenberg equation-of-motion approach to derive an exact set coupled differential equations for the open system and a single auxiliary oscillator of the chain. The combined equations are shown to have their interpretation rooted in a quantum Markov stochastic process. Including the auxiliary chain oscillator as part of the original system then enables us to obtain an exact master equation for the enlarged system, avoiding any need for the Born-Markov approximations. Our method is valid for a dissipative two-state system, with cases of multiple excitations and added driving discussed. Separately, we apply the framework of quantum Darwinism to an atom-cavity system, and, subsequently, to a more general multiple-environment model. In both cases, the time-dependent spread of correlations between the open system and fractions of the environment is analysed during the course of the decoherence process. The degree to which information is redundant across different fractions is checked to infer the emergence of classicality. In the second case, we go further and present a decomposition of information in terms of its quantum and classical correlations. A quantitative measure of redundancy is also studied with regard to its ability to witness non-Markovian behaviour. Besides fundamental interest, our results have application to quantum information processing and quantum technologies, keeping in mind the potential beneficial use of non-Markovian effects in reservoir engineering.
We develop a theory to describe dynamics of a non-stationary open quantum system interacting with a hybrid environment, which includes high-frequency and low-frequency noise components.One part of the system-bath interaction is treated in a perturbative manner, whereas the other part is considered exactly.This approach allows us to derive a set of master equations where the relaxation rates are expressed as convolutions of the Bloch-Redfield and Marcus formulas.Our theory enables analysis of systems that have extremely small energy gaps in the presence of a realistic environment.As an illustration, we apply the theory to the 16 qubit quantum annealing problem with dangling qubits (Dickson et al 2013 Nat.Commun.4 1903) and show qualitative agreement with experimental results.
We present a succinct and intuitive derivation of a formally exact master equation for general open quantum systems, without the use of an "inverse" map which was invoked in previous works on formally exact master equations. This formalism is applicable to non-Markovian regimes. We derive a second-order equation of motion for the illustrative spin-boson model at arbitrary temperatures, observing non-exponential decoherence and relaxation. Limiting our generic derivation to zero temperature, we also reproduce the result for the special case of a vacuum bath in Phys. Rev. A 81, 042103 (2010).