arXiv subjects

Bassano Vacchini

Publications and source records attributed to Bassano Vacchini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Entropic and trace distance based measures of non-Markovianity

We analyze and compare different measures for the degree of non-Markovianity in the dynamics of open quantum systems. These measures are based on the distinguishability of quantum states which is quantified, on the one hand, by the trace distance or, more generally, by the trace norm of the Helstrom matrix, and, on the other hand, by entropic quantifiers: the Jensen-Shannon divergence, the Holevo or the quantum skew divergence. We explicitly construct a qubit dynamics for which the trace norm based non-Markovianity measure is nonzero, while all the entropic measures turn out to be zero. This leads to the surprising conclusion that the non-Markovianity measure which employs the trace norm of the Helstrom matrix is strictly stronger than all entropic non-Markovianity measures.

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arXiv2022

Holevo skew divergence for the characterization of information backflow

The interpretation of non-Markovian effects as due to the information exchange between an open quantum system and its environment has been recently formulated in terms of properly regularized entropic quantities, as their revivals in time can be upper bounded by means of quantities describing the storage of information outside the open system [Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 030401 (2021)]. Here, we elaborate on the wider mathematical framework of the theory, specifying the key properties that allow us to associate distinguishability quantifiers with the information flow from and towards the open system. We point to the Holevo quantity as a distinguished quantum divergence to which the formalism can be applied, and we show how several distinct quantifiers of non-Markovianity can be related to each other within this general framework. Finally, we apply our analysis to two relevant physical models in which an exact evaluation of all quantities can be performed.

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arXiv2022

Correlations, information backflow, and objectivity in a class of pure dephasing models

We critically examine the role that correlations established between a system and fragments of its environment play in characterising the ensuing dynamics. We employ a class of dephasing models where the state of the initial environment represents a tunable degree of freedom that qualitatively and quantitatively affects the correlation profiles, but nevertheless results in the same reduced dynamics for the system. We apply recently developed tools for the characterisation of non-Markovianity to carefully assess the role that correlations, as quantified by the (quantum) Jensen-Shannon divergence and relative entropy, as well as changes in the environmental state, play in whether the conditions for classical objectivity within the quantum Darwinism paradigm are met. We demonstrate that for precisely the same non-Markovian reduced dynamics of the system arising from different microscopic models, some will exhibit quantum Darwinistic features, while others show no meaningful notion of classical objectivity is present. Furthermore, our results highlight that the non-Markovian nature of an environment does not a priori prevent a system from redundantly proliferating relevant information, but rather it is the system's ability to establish the requisite correlations that is the crucial factor in the manifestation of classical objectivity.

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arXiv2021

Experimentally determining the incompatibility of two qubit measurements

We describe and realize an experimental procedure for assessing the incompatibility of two qubit measurements. The experiment consists in a state discrimination task where either measurement is used according to some partial intermediate information. The success statistics of the task provides an upper bound for the amount of incompatibility of the two measurements, as it is quantified by means of their incompatibility robustness. For a broad class of unbiased and possibly noisy qubit measurements, one can make this upper bound coincide with the true value of the robustness by suitably tuning the preparation of the experiment. We demonstrate this fact in an optical setup, where the qubit states are encoded into the photons' polarization degrees of freedom, and incompatibility is directly accessed by virtue of a refined control on the amplitude, phase and purity of the final projection stage of the measurements. Our work thus establishes the practical feasibility of a recently proposed method for the detection of quantum incompatibility.

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arXiv2021

Stochastic collisional quantum thermometry

We extend collisional quantum thermometry schemes to allow for stochasticity in the waiting time between successive collisions. We establish that introducing randomness through a suitable waiting time distribution, the Weibull distribution, allows to significantly extend the parameter range for which an advantage over the thermal Fisher information is attained. These results are explicitly demonstrated for dephasing interactions and also hold for partial swap interactions. Furthermore, we show that the optimal measurements can be performed locally, thus implying that genuine quantum correlations do not play a role in achieving this advantage. We explicitly confirm this by examining the correlation properties for the deterministic collisional model.

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arXiv2021

Adapted projection operator technique for the treatment of initial correlations

The standard theoretical descriptions of the dynamics of open quantum systems rely on the assumption that the correlations with the environment can be neglected at some reference (initial) time. While being reasonable in specific instances, such as when the coupling between the system and the environment is weak or when the interaction starts at a distinguished time, the use of initially uncorrelated states is questionable if one wants to deal with general models, taking into account the mutual influence that the open-system and environmental evolutions perform on each other. Here, we introduce a perturbative method that can be applied to any microscopic modeling of the system-environment interaction, including fully general initial correlations. Extending the standard technique based on projection operators that single out the relevant part of the global dynamics, we define a family of projections adapted to a convenient decomposition of the initial state, which involves a convex mixture of product operators with proper environmental states. This leads us to characterize the open-system dynamics via an uncoupled system of differential equations, which are homogeneous and whose number is limited by the dimensionality of the open system, for any kind of initial correlations. Our method is further illustrated by means of two cases study, for which it reproduces the expected dynamical behavior in the long-time regime more consistently than the standard projection technique.

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arXiv2021

Quantum Darwinism in a composite system: Objectivity versus classicality

We investigate the implications of quantum Darwinism in a composite quantum system with interacting constituents exhibiting a decoherence-free subspace. We consider a two-qubit system coupled to an $N$-qubit environment via a dephasing interaction. For excitation preserving interactions between the system qubits, an analytical expression for the dynamics is obtained. It demonstrates that part of the system Hilbert space redundantly proliferates its information to the environment, while the remaining subspace is decoupled and preserves clear non-classical signatures. For measurements performed on the system, we establish that a non-zero quantum discord is shared between the composite system and the environment, thus violating the conditions of strong Darwinism. However, due to the asymmetry of quantum discord, the information shared with the environment is completely classical for measurements performed on the environment. Our results imply a dichotomy between objectivity and classicality that emerges when considering composite systems.

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arXiv2021

Memory effects in quantum dynamics modelled by quantum renewal processes

Simple, controllable models play an important role to learn how to manipulate and control quantum resources. We focus here on quantum non-Markovianity and model the evolution of open quantum systems by quantum renewal processes. This class of quantum dynamics provides us with a phenomenological approach to characterise dynamics with a variety of non-Markovian behaviours, here described in terms of the trace distance between two reduced states. By adopting a trajectory picture for the open quantum system evolution, we analyse how non-Markovianity is influenced by the constituents defining the quantum renewal process, namely the time-continuous part of the dynamics, the type of jumps and the waiting time distributions. We focus not only on the mere value of the non-Markovianity measure, but also on how different features of the trace distance evolution are altered, including times and number of revivals.

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arXiv2021

Collision models in open system dynamics: A versatile tool for deeper insights?

Understanding and simulating how a quantum system interacts and exchanges information or energy with its surroundings is a ubiquitous problem, one which must be carefully addressed in order to establish a coherent framework to describe the dynamics and thermodynamics of quantum systems. Significant effort has been invested in developing various methods for tackling this issue and in this Perspective we focus on one such technique, namely collision models, which have emerged as a remarkably flexible approach. We discuss their application to understanding non-Markovian dynamics and to studying the thermodynamics of quantum systems, two areas in which collision models have proven to be particularly insightful. Their simple structure endows them with extremely broad applicability which has spurred their recent experimental demonstrations. By focusing on these areas, our aim is to provide a succinct entry point to this remarkable framework.

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arXiv2021

On the connection between microscopic description and memory effects in open quantum system dynamics

The exchange of information between an open quantum system and its environment allows us to discriminate among different kinds of dynamics, in particular detecting memory effects to characterize non-Markovianity. Here, we investigate the role played by the system-environment correlations and the environmental evolution in the flow of information. First, we derive general conditions ensuring that two generalized dephasing microscopic models of the global system-environment evolution result exactly in the same open-system dynamics, for any initial state of the system. Then, we use the trace distance to quantify the distinct contributions to the information inside and outside the open system in the two models. Our analysis clarifies how the interplay between system-environment correlations and environmental-state distinguishability can lead to the same information flow from and toward the open system, despite significant qualitative and quantitative differences at the level of the global evolution.

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arXiv2021

Entropic bounds on information backflow

In the dynamics of open quantum systems, the backflow of information to the reduced system under study has been suggested as the actual physical mechanism inducing memory and thus leading to non-Markovian quantum dynamics. To this aim, the trace-distance or Bures-distance revivals between distinct evolved system states have been shown to be subordinated to the establishment of system-environment correlations or changes in the environmental state. We show that this interpretation can be substantiated also for a class of entropic quantifiers. We exploit a suitably regularized version of Umegaki's quantum relative entropy, known as telescopic relative entropy, that is tightly connected to the quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence. In particular, we derive general upper bounds on the telescopic relative entropy revivals conditioned and determined by the formation of correlations and changes in the environment. We illustrate our findings by means of examples, considering the Jaynes-Cummings model and a two-qubit dynamics.

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arXiv2020

The interplay between local and non-local master equations: exact and approximated dynamics

Master equations are a useful tool to describe the evolution of open quantum systems. In order to characterize the mathematical features and the physical origin of the dynamics, it is often useful to consider different kinds of master equations for the same system. Here, we derive an exact connection between the time-local and the integro-differential descriptions, focusing on the class of commutative dynamics. The use of the damping-basis formalism allows us to devise a general procedure to go from one master equation to the other and vice-versa, by working with functions of time and their Laplace transforms only. We further analyze the Lindbladian form of the time-local and the integro-differential master equations, where we account for the appearance of different sets of Lindbladian operators. In addition, we investigate a Redfield-like approximation, that transforms the exact integro-differential equation into a time-local one by means of a coarse graining in time. Besides relating the structure of the resulting master equation to those associated with the exact dynamics, we study the effects of the approximation on Markovianity. In particular, we show that, against expectation, the coarse graining in time can possibly introduce memory effects, leading to a violation of a divisibility property of the dynamics.

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arXiv2020

Evolution equations for quantum semi-Markov dynamics

Using a newly introduced connection between the local and non-local description of open quantum system dynamics, we investigate the relationship between these two characterisations in the case of quantum semi-Markov processes. This class of quantum evolutions, which is a direct generalisation of the corresponding classical concept, guarantees mathematically well-defined master equations, while accounting for a wide range of phenomena, possibly in the non-Markovian regime. In particular, we analyse the emergence of a dephasing term when moving from one type of master equation to the other, by means of several examples. We also investigate the corresponding Redfield-like approximated dynamics, which are obtained after a coarse graining in time. Relying on general properties of the associated classical random process, we conclude that such an approximation always leads to a Markovian evolution for the considered class of dynamics.

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arXiv2020

Lower bounds for the mean dissipated heat in an open quantum system

Landauer's principle provides a perspective on the physical meaning of information as well as on the minimum working cost of information processing. Whereas most studies have related the decrease in entropy during a computationally irreversible process to a lower bound of dissipated heat, recent efforts have also provided another lower bound associated with the thermodynamic fluctuation of heat. The coexistence of the two conceptually independent bounds has stimulated comparative studies of their close relationship or tightness; however, these studies were concerned with finite quantum systems that allowed the revival of erased information because of a finite recurrence time. We broaden these comparative studies further to open quantum systems with infinite recurrence times. By examining their dependence on the initial state, we find the independence of the thermodynamic bound from the initial coherence, whereas the entropic bound depends on both the initial coherence and population. A crucial role is indicated by the purity of the initial state: the entropic bound is tighter when the initial condition is sufficiently mixed, whereas the thermodynamic bound is tighter when the initial state is close to a pure state. These trends are consistent with previous results obtained for finite systems.

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arXiv2019

Experimental investigation of the effect of classical noise on quantum non-Markovian dynamics

We provide an experimental study of the relationship between the action of different classical noises on the dephasing dynamics of a two-level system and the non-Markovianity of the quantum dynamics. The two-level system is encoded in the photonic polarization degrees of freedom and the action of the noise is obtained via a spatial light modulator, thus allowing for an easy engineering of different random environments. The quantum non-Markovianity of the dynamics driven by classical Markovian and non-Markovian noise, both Gaussian and non-Gaussian, is studied by means of the trace distance. Our study clearly shows the different nature of the notion of non-Markovian classical process and non-Markovian quantum dynamics.

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arXiv2019

Non-Markovian processes in quantum theory

The study of quantum dynamics featuring memory effects has always been a topic of interest within the theory of open quantum system, which is concerned about providing useful conceptual and theoretical tools for the description of the reduced dynamics of a system interacting with an external environment. Definitions of non-Markovian processes have been introduced trying to capture the notion of memory effect by studying features of the quantum dynamical map providing the evolution of the system states, or changes in the distinguishability of the system states themselves. We introduce basic notions in the framework of open quantum systems, stressing in particular analogies and differences with models used for introducing modifications of quantum mechanics which should help in dealing with the measurement problem. We further discuss recent developments in the treatment of non-Markovian processes and their role in considering more general modifications of quantum mechanics.

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arXiv2019

Frontiers of open quantum system dynamics

We briefly examine recent developments in the field of open quantum system theory, devoted to the introduction of a satisfactory notion of memory for a quantum dynamics. In particular, we will consider a possible formalization of the notion of non-Markovian dynamics, as well as the construction of quantum evolution equations featuring a memory kernel. Connections will be drawn to the corresponding notions in the framework of classical stochastic processes, thus pointing to the key differences between a quantum and classical formalization of the notion of memory effects.

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arXiv2019

Quantum renewal processes

We introduce a general construction of master equations with memory kernel whose solutions are given by completely positive trace preserving maps. These dynamics going beyond the Lindblad paradigm are obtained with reference to classical renewal processes, so that they are termed quantum renewal processes. They can be described by means of semigroup dynamics interrupted by jumps, separated by independently distributed time intervals, following suitable waiting time distributions. In this framework, one can further introduce modified processes, in which the first few events follow different distributions. A crucial role, marking an important difference with respect to the classical case, is played by operator ordering. Indeed, for the same choice of basic quantum transformations, different quantum dynamics arise. In particular, for the case of modified processes, it is natural to consider the time inverted operator ordering, in which the last few events are distributed differently.

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