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arXiv:quant-ph/0604136 · Physical Review A

Universal decoherence induced by an environmental quantum phase transition

Fernando Cucchietti, Sònia Fernández-Vidal, Juan Pablo Paz

Published Mar 27, 2007• 96 citations
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Abstract

Decoherence induced by coupling a system with an environment may display universal features. We demonstrate that when the coupling to the system drives a quantum phase transition in the environment, the decay of quantum coherences in the system is Gaussian with a width independent of the system-environment coupling strength. We obtain analytical results for a class of solvable models, and present numerical evidence supporting the validity of our results in more general cases. This effect opens the way for a quantum simulation algorithm, where a single qubit is used to detect a quantum phase transition. We discuss possible implementations of such an algorithm and relate our results to available data on universal decoherence in NMR echo experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.032337

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Decoherence induced by coupling a system with an environment may display universal features. We demonstrate that when the coupling to the system drives a quantum phase transition in the environment, the decay of quantum coherences in the system is Gaussian with a width independent of the system-environment coupling strength. We obtain analytical results for a class of solvable models, and present numerical evidence supporting the validity of our results in more general cases. This effect opens the way for a quantum simulation algorithm, where a single qubit is used to detect a quantum phase transition. We discuss possible implementations of such an algorithm and relate our results to available data on universal decoherence in NMR echo experiments.
This paper analyzes the decoherence induced on a single qubit by the interaction with a spin chain with nontrivial internal dynamics (XYXYXY-type interactions). The aim of the paper is to study the existence and properties of the so-called universal regime, in which the decoherence time scale becomes independent of the strength of the coupling with the environment. It is shown that, although such a regime does exist, as previously established by Cucchietti et al. [Phys. Rev. A 75, 032337 (2007)], it is not a clear signature of a quantum phase transition in the environment. In fact, this kind of universality also exists in the absence of quantum phase transitions. A universal regime can be related to the existence of an energy scale separation between the Hamiltonian of the environment and the one characterizing the system-environment interaction. The results presented also indicate that in the strong-coupling regime the quantum phase transition does not produce an enhancement of decoherence (as opposed to what happens in the weak-coupling regime).
We examine two exactly solvable models of decoherence---a central spin-system, (i) with and (ii) without a self-Hamiltonian, interacting with a collection of environment spins. In the absence of a self-Hamiltonian we show that in this model (introduced some time ago to illustrate environment-induced superselection) generic assumptions about the coupling strengths can lead to a universal (Gaussian) suppression of coherence between pointer states. On the other hand, we show that when the dynamics of the central spin is dominant a different regime emerges, which is characterized by a non-Gaussian decay and a dramatically different set of pointer states. We explore the regimes of validity of the Gaussian decay and discuss its relation to the spectral features of the environment and to the Loschmidt echo (or fidelity).
We study decoherence induced on a two-level system coupled to a one-dimensional quantum spin chain. We consider the cases where the dynamics of the chain is determined by the Ising, XYXYXY, or Heisenberg exchange Hamiltonian. This model of quantum baths can be of fundamental importance for the understanding of decoherence in open quantum systems, since it can be experimentally engineered by using atoms in optical lattices. As an example, here we show how to implement a pure dephasing model for a qubit system coupled to an interacting spin bath. We provide results that go beyond the case of a central spin coupled uniformly to all the spins of the bath, in particular showing what happens when the bath enters different phases, or becomes critical; we also study the dependence of the coherence loss on the number of bath spins to which the system is coupled and we describe a coupling-independent regime in which decoherence exhibits universal features, irrespective of the system-environment coupling strength. Finally, we establish a relation between decoherence and entanglement inside the bath. For the Ising and the XYXYXY models we are able to give an exact expression for the decay of coherences, while for the Heisenberg bath we resort to the numerical time-dependent density matrix renormalization group.
We examine an exactly solvable model of decoherence -- a spin-system interacting with a collection of environment spins. We show that in this simple model (introduced some time ago to illustrate environment--induced superselection) generic assumptions about the coupling strengths lead to a universal (Gaussian) suppression of coherence between pointer states. We explore the regime of validity of this result and discuss its relation to spectral features of the environment. We also consider its relevance to the experiments on the so-called Loschmidt echo (which measures, in effect, the fidelity between the initial and time-reversed or "echo" signal). In particular, we show that for partial reversals (e.g., when of only a part of the total Hamiltonian changes sign) fidelity will exhibit a Gaussian dependence on the time of reversal. In such cases echo may become independent of the details of the reversal procedure or the specifics of the coupling to the environment. This puzzling behavior was observed in several NMR experiments. Natural candidates for such two environments (one of which is easily reversed, while the other is ``irreversible'') are suggested for the experiment involving ferrocene.
It is well known that environment may decohere a quantum bit (qubit) system immersed in it, making a quantum computation invalid. But the quantitative features of the decoherence seem to depend on both the constitution of the environment and the details of its coupling with the qubit system. In this paper, based on the dynamic approach for quantum measurement developed from the Hepp-Coleman model [K. Hepp, Helv. Phys. Acta 45, 237 (1972)], we generally model the environment as a collection of a large number of subsystems and then consider to what extent and in which way the environment and its coupling with the qubit system may affect a quantum computation process. In the weak-coupling limit, we find that as far as decoherence time is concerned, there is no essential difference between an environment of two-level subsystems and an environment of harmonic oscillators. This implies that there exists some universality independent of specific constitutions of environments. However, it is also shown that this is not true at finite temperature or in the case of strong coupling. So only if the coupling is weak and the temperature low does there exist the possibility of developing a universal scheme of controlling a qubit system such that the decoherence is avoided. The possible effect of environment on the efficiency of a quantum algorithm is also explicitly illustrated through the example of Shor's prime factorization algorithm.
In this paper, we have investigated the quantum entanglement of quantum states undergoing decoherence from a spin environment which drives a quantum phase transition. From our analysis, we find that the entanglement dynamics depends not only on the coupling strength but also on the external magnetic field and the number of the freedom degrees of the environment. Specially, our results imply that the decay of the entanglement can be enhanced by the quantum phase transition of the environment when the system is coupled to the environment weakly. Additionally, the discussion of the case of the multipartite states with high dimensions is made.