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New Journal of Physics

Geometric quantum speed limits for Markovian dynamics in open quantum systems

Kang Lan, Shijie Xie, Xiang-Ji Cai

Published Apr 22, 2022• 29 citations

Abstract

Abstract We study theoretically the geometric quantum speed limits (QSLs) of open quantum systems under Markovian dynamical evolution. Three types of QSL time bounds are introduced based on the geometric inequality associated with the dynamical evolution from an initial state to a final state. By illustrating three types of QSL bounds at the cases of presence or absence of system driving, we demonstrate that the unitary part, dominated by system Hamiltonian, supplies the internal motivation for a Markovian evolution which deviates from its geodesic. Specifically, in the case of unsaturated QSL bounds, the parameters of the system Hamiltonian serve as the eigen-frequency of the oscillations of geodesic distance in the time domain and, on the other hand, drive a further evolution of an open quantum system in a given time period due to its significant contribution in dynamical speedup. We present physical pictures of both saturated and unsaturated QSLs of Markovian dynamics by means of the dynamical evolution trajectories in the Bloch sphere which demonstrates the significant role of system Hamiltonian even in the case of initial mixed states. It is further indicated that whether the QSL bound is saturated is ruled by the commutator between the Hamiltonian and reduced density matrix of the quantum system. Our study provides a detailed description of QSL times and reveals the effects of system Hamiltonian on the unsaturation of QSL bounds under Markovian evolution.

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ac696b

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Abstract We study theoretically the geometric quantum speed limits (QSLs) of open quantum systems under Markovian dynamical evolution. Three types of QSL time bounds are introduced based on the geometric inequality associated with the dynamical evolution from an initial state to a final state. By illustrating three types of QSL bounds at the cases of presence or absence of system driving, we demonstrate that the unitary part, dominated by system Hamiltonian, supplies the internal motivation for a Markovian evolution which deviates from its geodesic. Specifically, in the case of unsaturated QSL bounds, the parameters of the system Hamiltonian serve as the eigen-frequency of the oscillations of geodesic distance in the time domain and, on the other hand, drive a further evolution of an open quantum system in a given time period due to its significant contribution in dynamical speedup. We present physical pictures of both saturated and unsaturated QSLs of Markovian dynamics by means of the dynamical evolution trajectories in the Bloch sphere which demonstrates the significant role of system Hamiltonian even in the case of initial mixed states. It is further indicated that whether the QSL bound is saturated is ruled by the commutator between the Hamiltonian and reduced density matrix of the quantum system. Our study provides a detailed description of QSL times and reveals the effects of system Hamiltonian on the unsaturation of QSL bounds under Markovian evolution.

We develop an intuitive geometric picture of quantum states, define a particular state distance, and derive a quantum speed limit (QSL) for open systems. Our QSL is attainable because any initial state can be driven to a final state by the particular dynamics along the geodesic. We present the general condition for dynamics along the geodesic for our QSL. As evidence, we consider the generalized amplitude damping dynamics and the dephasing dynamics to demonstrate the attainability. In addition, we also compare our QSL with others by strict analytic processes as well as numerical illustrations, and show our QSL is tight in many cases. It indicates that our paper is significant in tightening the bound of evolution time.

We derive a Geometric quantum speed limit (QSL) for imaginary-time evolution, where the dynamics is governed by a non-unitary Schrödinger equation. By introducing a cost function based on the angular distance between the normalized evolving state and the initial state, we obtain a lower bound on the evolution time expressed as the ratio between this angle and the time-averaged energy dispersion. Our bound is analytical, general, and applicable to arbitrary time-independent Hamiltonians. We analytically evaluate this bound for two physically motivated cases. First, we apply it to a two-level system and derive an expression for the minimal time. Second, we analyze the imaginary-time version of Grover search problem and rigorously reproduce the well-known logarithmic scaling

T=\mathcal{ O}(\log N)

within our QSL framework.

We propose a quantum state distance and develop a family of geometrical quantum speed limits (QSLs) for open and closed systems. The QSL time includes an alternative function by which we derive three QSL times with particularly chosen functions. It indicates that two QSL times are exactly the ones presented in Ref. \cite{Campaioli2019tightrobust} and \cite{mai2023tight}, respectively, and the third one can provide a unified QSL time for both open and closed systems. The three QSL times are attainable for any given initial state in the sense that there exists a dynamics driving the initial state to evolve along the geodesic. We numerically compare the tightness of the three QSL times, which typically promises a tighter QSL time if optimizing the alternative function.

According to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle between time and energy fluctuation, a concept of the quantum speed limit (QSL) has been established to determine the minimum evolutionary time between quantum states. Considerable theoretical and experimental efforts are invested in obtaining the QSL time bounds in various scenarios. However, it remains a long-standing goal to derive a meaningful QSL bound for a general quantum problem. Here, we propose a geometrical approach to derive a QSL bound for closed and open quantum systems. By solving a quantum brachistochrone problem in the framework of the Riemannian metric, we show that the QSL between a given initial state and a final state is determined not only by the entire dynamics of the system but also by the individual dynamics of a critical parameter. We exemplify the utility of the bound in three representative scenarios, demonstrating a pronounced advantage in finding a tight and meaningful QSL bound of a general quantum evolution problem.

Abstract The quantum speed limit (QSL) is a fundamental lower bound on the evolution time for quantum systems, and its tightness has been observed to be dependent on the properties of the physical process. However, experimental studies exploring the QSL in open quantum systems are still missing. Here, we studied geometric quantum speed limits of a qubit subject to decoherence in an ensemble of chloroform molecules in a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance experiment. We controlled the system-reservoir interaction and the spin relaxation rates by adding a paramagnetic salt, allowing the observation of both Markovian and non-Markovian open system dynamics for the qubit. We used two distinguishability measures of quantum states to assess the speed of the qubit evolution: the quantum Fisher information (QFI) and Wigner-Yanase skew information (WY). For non-Markovianity and low salt concentrations, we found crossovers between QSLs related to those metrics. The WY metric sets the tighter QSL for high concentrations and Markovian dynamics. We also show that QSLs are sensitive even to small fluctuations in spin magnetization.

Abstract We present a new quantum speed limit (QSL) for open quantum systems governed by Markovian dynamics. Our approach is based on analyzing the time derivative of the Bures angle between the initial pure state and its time-evolved state, leading to an analytically computable upper bound on the evolution speed. This bound naturally decomposes into three distinct physical contributions: a unitary term, a dissipative deformation term, and a fluctuation term. Building on this structure, we establish a general inequality that connects the QSL to the quantum Fisher information (QFI) in the short-time regime. This reveals a fundamental trade-off between evolution speed and estimation precision, and clarifies how decoherence can both accelerate and constrain information acquisition in open quantum systems.