Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

International Annual Conference on Complex Systems and Intelligent Science (CSIS-IAC)

Probability Distribution for the Backward-Evolving Quantum State Concerning a Monitored Qubit

Sijin Pan, Zibo Miao

Published Oct 20, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The evolution of two-level quantum systems (qubits) in the presence of continuous-time weak measurements can be described by stochastic differential equations, which is dominated by the Hamiltonian and decoherence channels. In more concrete terms, the conventional density matrix evolves according to the stochastic master equation in the Schrödinger picture. Particularly, for a monitored qubit, the deterministic submanifolds concerning the dynamical evolution of the density matrix has been previously obtained. As a complement, We have recently developed deterministic submanifolds for the backward-evolving quantum state for a monitored qubit. In this paper, in order to better understand the behavior of a monitored qubit, by using the Bloch sphere representation and the properties of Pauli matrices, we provide a closed-form expression for probability distribution over the deterministic submanifolds of the backward evolving dynamics in different scenarios. We further analyze the backward-evolving trajectories of the quantum state by taking into account the analytic solutions and the corresponding submanifolds under heterodyne/homodyne detection associated with non-demolition or fluorescence measurements.

DOI
10.1109/csis-iac60628.2023.10363815

Related papers

Deterministic submanifolds for the backward‐evolving quantum state concerning a monitored qubit

Zibo Miao, Zigui Zhang, Kai Li +2 more

Abstract The evolution of a quantum system subject to continuous weak measurement is described by a stochastic differential equation (SDE). It has been shown that the conventional density matrix characterized by such SDE, under experimentally relevant settings, remains within a deterministically evolving manifold of low dimension, whose associated equations can be computed explicitly. In this paper, as a complement, it is demonstrated that the effect matrix , associated to a quantum system at the time t to express its measurement during the interval , also remains confined to a deterministically evolving manifold. In particular, by using the Bloch sphere representation together with the properties of Pauli matrices (as the quantum representation of quaternions), deterministic submanifolds for the effect matrix concerning a monitored qubit are given explicitly. The qubit stays on a deterministically evolving curve in the homodyne amplitude detection scenario, and on a deterministically moving surface under heterodyne amplitude detection. This deterministic characterization should be of interest for parameter estimation and towards obtaining computationally efficient quantum filters for real‐time quantum control.

IET Control Theory and Applications•Oct 13, 2022•1 citation

Purification of a monitored qubit: exact path-integral solution

Matheus M. R. Poltronieri Martins, Henrique Santos Lima

We investigate the purification dynamics of a single qubit under continuous in time monitoring. By employing a collisional model framework where the system interacts sequentially with ancillary qubits, we describe the conditioned evolution of the density matrix through a stochastic master equation. We show that for initial mixed states, the dynamics reduce to a multiplicative Langevin equation for a single scalar parameter representing the state's purity. This stochastic process is solved exactly using the Onsager-Machlup path integral formalism, allowing us to derive the full probability distribution for the qubit's trajectories. Our analytical results reveal that purification is characterized by a dynamical crossover from a diffusion dominated regime to a measurement dominated regime, visible in the emergence of a bimodal state distribution. The analytical solutions are in strong agreement with numerical simulations, providing a robust theoretical benchmark for the study of information extraction in monitored quantum systems.

quant-pharXiv:2605.12783•May 14, 2026•0 citations

Generation of entanglement and magic via continuous homodyne monitoring of a qubit pair

Debmalya Das, Giuseppe Magnifico, Maria Maffei

Continuous weak measurements of quantum systems are of great relevance in quantum foundations and applications. They can be achieved by probing the quantum system of interest by repeatedly measuring an auxiliary system weakly coupled to it. Here we study two qubits coupled in different points to a common one-dimensional electromagnetic field and simultaneously monitored in the right- and left-propagating output channels by homodyne detection. Using a collision-model description, we derive an analytical Stochastic Master Equation (SME) governing the resulting diffusive quantum trajectories, including the interference between the two measurement channels. For nonlinear functions of the quantum state, such as entropies, averages over quantum trajectories generally differ from the corresponding quantities evaluated on the unconditional state. Through this mechanism, we show that continuous monitoring generates entanglement, absent in the unconditional dynamics, and enhances quantum magic in the qubit pair during the decay. Both resources can be tuned through the optical phase accumulated between the qubits and the phases of homodyne local oscillators. Our results establish continuous homodyne monitoring of multiple emitters as a tunable mechanism for generating quantum resources.

quant-pharXiv:2609.15868•Sep 15, 2026•0 citations

Controllability properties of a continuously monitored qubit

Francesca Carlotta Chittaro, Paolo Mason

We consider a stochastic dynamics describing the evolution of a qubit controlled by an external field and subject to continuous-time measurements. Motivated by stabilization techniques recently developed in, e.g., [10], [11], we investigate the support of the corresponding solution, which is a random variable taking values on the space of two-by-two density matrices. By making use of the Strook-Varadhan support theorem and by classical geometric control arguments we compute the support for two possible choices of the measurement and Hamiltonian operators. In one case we show that, in Bloch coordinates, the support is always contained inside an ellipsoid depending on the physical parameters of the system. More precisely, a solution starting from the ellipsoid never exit it, with probability one, and every open subset of the ellipsoid is visited with nonzero probability for some choice of the control function. In the second case the support coincides with (the interior of) the Bloch ball: every open subset of the Bloch ball is visited with nonzero probability up to suitably choosing the control function.

IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)•Dec 16, 2024•0 citations

Stochastic Schrödinger Equations for Quantum Reverse Diffusion

Einar Gabbassov

The ensemble-averaged dynamics of open quantum systems are typically irreversible. We show that this irreversibility need not hold at the level of individually monitored quantum trajectories. Our main results are analytical stochastic Schrödinger equations for quantum reverse diffusion, along with corresponding stochastic master equations. These equations describe the exact and approximate stochastic reverse processes for continuously monitored Pauli channels, including time-dependent depolarizing noise. We show that the reverse processes generalize the forward dynamics by combining the noise effects of the forward processes with an additional stochastic drift that dynamically steers a quantum state back to its initial configuration. Consequently, the exact reverse stochastic Schrödinger equations admit closed-form solutions that can be implemented in real-time without the need for variational techniques. Our findings establish an analytical framework for quantum state recovery, noise-resilient quantum gates, quantum generative modelling, quantum tomography via forward-reverse cycles, and potential paradigms for quantum error correction based on reverse diffusion.

quant-pharXiv:2511.15919•Physical Review Research•Nov 21, 2025•1 citation

Measuring fluorescence to track a quantum emitter's state: a theory review

Philippe Lewalle, Sreenath K. Manikandan, Cyril Elouard +1 more

We review the continuous monitoring of a qubit through its spontaneous emission, at an introductory level. Contemporary experiments have been able to collect the fluorescence of an artificial atom in a cavity and transmission line, and then make measurements of that emission to obtain diffusive quantum trajectories in the qubit's state. We give a straightforward theoretical overview of such scenarios, using a framework based on Kraus operators derived from a Bayesian update concept; we apply this flexible framework across common types of measurements including photodetection, homodyne, and heterodyne monitoring and illustrate its equivalence to the stochastic master equation formalism throughout. Special emphasis is given to homodyne (phase-sensitive) monitoring of fluorescence. The examples we develop are used to illustrate basic methods in quantum trajectories, but also to introduce some more advanced topics of contemporary interest, including the arrow of time in quantum measurement, and trajectories following optimal measurement records derived from a variational principle. The derivations we perform lead directly from the development of a simple model to an understanding of recent experimental results.

arXiv:1908.04720•Contemporary Physics•Jan 2, 2020•19 citations
The evolution of two-level quantum systems (qubits) in the presence of continuous-time weak measurements can be described by stochastic differential equations, which is dominated by the Hamiltonian and decoherence channels. In more concrete terms, the conventional density matrix evolves according to the stochastic master equation in the Schrödinger picture. Particularly, for a monitored qubit, the deterministic submanifolds concerning the dynamical evolution of the density matrix has been previously obtained. As a complement, We have recently developed deterministic submanifolds for the backward-evolving quantum state for a monitored qubit. In this paper, in order to better understand the behavior of a monitored qubit, by using the Bloch sphere representation and the properties of Pauli matrices, we provide a closed-form expression for probability distribution over the deterministic submanifolds of the backward evolving dynamics in different scenarios. We further analyze the backward-evolving trajectories of the quantum state by taking into account the analytic solutions and the corresponding submanifolds under heterodyne/homodyne detection associated with non-demolition or fluorescence measurements.
Abstract The evolution of a quantum system subject to continuous weak measurement is described by a stochastic differential equation (SDE). It has been shown that the conventional density matrix characterized by such SDE, under experimentally relevant settings, remains within a deterministically evolving manifold of low dimension, whose associated equations can be computed explicitly. In this paper, as a complement, it is demonstrated that the effect matrix , associated to a quantum system at the time t to express its measurement during the interval , also remains confined to a deterministically evolving manifold. In particular, by using the Bloch sphere representation together with the properties of Pauli matrices (as the quantum representation of quaternions), deterministic submanifolds for the effect matrix concerning a monitored qubit are given explicitly. The qubit stays on a deterministically evolving curve in the homodyne amplitude detection scenario, and on a deterministically moving surface under heterodyne amplitude detection. This deterministic characterization should be of interest for parameter estimation and towards obtaining computationally efficient quantum filters for real‐time quantum control.
We investigate the purification dynamics of a single qubit under continuous in time monitoring. By employing a collisional model framework where the system interacts sequentially with ancillary qubits, we describe the conditioned evolution of the density matrix through a stochastic master equation. We show that for initial mixed states, the dynamics reduce to a multiplicative Langevin equation for a single scalar parameter representing the state's purity. This stochastic process is solved exactly using the Onsager-Machlup path integral formalism, allowing us to derive the full probability distribution for the qubit's trajectories. Our analytical results reveal that purification is characterized by a dynamical crossover from a diffusion dominated regime to a measurement dominated regime, visible in the emergence of a bimodal state distribution. The analytical solutions are in strong agreement with numerical simulations, providing a robust theoretical benchmark for the study of information extraction in monitored quantum systems.
Continuous weak measurements of quantum systems are of great relevance in quantum foundations and applications. They can be achieved by probing the quantum system of interest by repeatedly measuring an auxiliary system weakly coupled to it. Here we study two qubits coupled in different points to a common one-dimensional electromagnetic field and simultaneously monitored in the right- and left-propagating output channels by homodyne detection. Using a collision-model description, we derive an analytical Stochastic Master Equation (SME) governing the resulting diffusive quantum trajectories, including the interference between the two measurement channels. For nonlinear functions of the quantum state, such as entropies, averages over quantum trajectories generally differ from the corresponding quantities evaluated on the unconditional state. Through this mechanism, we show that continuous monitoring generates entanglement, absent in the unconditional dynamics, and enhances quantum magic in the qubit pair during the decay. Both resources can be tuned through the optical phase accumulated between the qubits and the phases of homodyne local oscillators. Our results establish continuous homodyne monitoring of multiple emitters as a tunable mechanism for generating quantum resources.
We consider a stochastic dynamics describing the evolution of a qubit controlled by an external field and subject to continuous-time measurements. Motivated by stabilization techniques recently developed in, e.g., [10], [11], we investigate the support of the corresponding solution, which is a random variable taking values on the space of two-by-two density matrices. By making use of the Strook-Varadhan support theorem and by classical geometric control arguments we compute the support for two possible choices of the measurement and Hamiltonian operators. In one case we show that, in Bloch coordinates, the support is always contained inside an ellipsoid depending on the physical parameters of the system. More precisely, a solution starting from the ellipsoid never exit it, with probability one, and every open subset of the ellipsoid is visited with nonzero probability for some choice of the control function. In the second case the support coincides with (the interior of) the Bloch ball: every open subset of the Bloch ball is visited with nonzero probability up to suitably choosing the control function.
The ensemble-averaged dynamics of open quantum systems are typically irreversible. We show that this irreversibility need not hold at the level of individually monitored quantum trajectories. Our main results are analytical stochastic Schrödinger equations for quantum reverse diffusion, along with corresponding stochastic master equations. These equations describe the exact and approximate stochastic reverse processes for continuously monitored Pauli channels, including time-dependent depolarizing noise. We show that the reverse processes generalize the forward dynamics by combining the noise effects of the forward processes with an additional stochastic drift that dynamically steers a quantum state back to its initial configuration. Consequently, the exact reverse stochastic Schrödinger equations admit closed-form solutions that can be implemented in real-time without the need for variational techniques. Our findings establish an analytical framework for quantum state recovery, noise-resilient quantum gates, quantum generative modelling, quantum tomography via forward-reverse cycles, and potential paradigms for quantum error correction based on reverse diffusion.
We review the continuous monitoring of a qubit through its spontaneous emission, at an introductory level. Contemporary experiments have been able to collect the fluorescence of an artificial atom in a cavity and transmission line, and then make measurements of that emission to obtain diffusive quantum trajectories in the qubit's state. We give a straightforward theoretical overview of such scenarios, using a framework based on Kraus operators derived from a Bayesian update concept; we apply this flexible framework across common types of measurements including photodetection, homodyne, and heterodyne monitoring and illustrate its equivalence to the stochastic master equation formalism throughout. Special emphasis is given to homodyne (phase-sensitive) monitoring of fluorescence. The examples we develop are used to illustrate basic methods in quantum trajectories, but also to introduce some more advanced topics of contemporary interest, including the arrow of time in quantum measurement, and trajectories following optimal measurement records derived from a variational principle. The derivations we perform lead directly from the development of a simple model to an understanding of recent experimental results.