Quantum speed limits of a qubit system interacting with a nonequilibrium environment

The speed of evolution of a qubit undergoing a nonequilibrium environment with spectral density of general ohmic form is investigated. First we reveal non-Markovianity of the model, and find that the non-Markovianity quantified by information backflow of Breuer et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 210401(2009)] displays a nonmonotonic behavior for different values of the ohmicity parameter s in fixed other parameters and the maximal non-Markovianity can be achieved at a specified value s. We also find that the non-Markovianity displays a nonmonotonic behavior with the change of a phase control parameter. Then we further discuss the relationship between quantum speed limit(QSL) time and non-Markovianity of the open-qubit system for any initial states including pure and mixed states. By investigation, we find that the QSL time of a qubit with any initial states can be expressed by a simple factorization law: the QSL time of a qubit with any qubitinitial states are equal to the product of the coherence of the initial state and the QSL time of maximally coherent states,where the QSL time of the maximally coherent states are jointly determined by the non-Markovianity, decoherence factor and a given driving time. Moreover, we also find that the speed of quantum evolution can be obviously accelerated in the wide range of the ohmicity parameter, i.e., from sub-Ohmic to Ohmic and super-Ohmic cases, which is different from the thermal equilibrium environment case.     

Non-Markovianity in the presence of multiple thermal environments via collision model

By means of the collision model, we study the non-Markovianity of an open quantum system S being coupled to M thermal reservoirs. In our model, each reservoir is modeled as a chain of ancillas whose intracollisions account for the occurrence of non-Markovian dynamics. We show that by incorporating M reservoir ancillas into the system, the non-Markovian dynamics of S can be embedded in the extended system that experiences a completely Markovian dynamics. The number M of involved reservoirs can thus be identified as the memory depth and determines the degree of the non-Markovianity. In the equilibrium case with identical temperatures for all the reservoirs, we show that though the non-Markovianity is proportional to M in the zero and relatively low temperature regimes, in the relatively high temperature regime such proportional relation holds only for the weak intracollisions of the reservoir ancillas. In the nonequilibrium situation, we examine the effect of temperature difference of reservoirs on the non-Markovianity. Focusing on a simple situation with two reservoirs, we observe that the nonzero temperature difference has a significant impact on the non-Markovianity.     

Non-Markovianity and initial correlations for the generalized Lindblad master equation

Taking a two-level system interacting with a two-band environment as an example, we discuss the non-Markovianity and initial system-environment correlations for the generalized Lindblad master equation by using a recently introduced measure given by Breuer et al. Our results show that the initial states of the environment and initial system-environment correlations have strong effects on the non-Markovianity of the reduced system. Moreover, we also show that information and energy can flow in different directions, i.e., energy flows to the system while information flows from the system, which is quite different from previous results.     

Entanglement and non-Markovianity of a spin-S system in a dephasing environment

We study the entanglement （measured by negativity） evolution and the non-Markovianity for the dynamical process of a spin-S system embedded in dephasing environments. The exact analytical solution is presented, which shows that the decoherence function governs the evolutions of coherence, entanglement, and the non-Markovianity of the correspond- ing dynamical processes. For Ohmic and sub-Ohmic reservoirs, the negativity decreases monotonically in time and the corresponding dynamics is Markovian. While for super-Ohmic reservoirs with non-monotonic decoherence function, the negativity appears as the phenomenon of revival and the corresponding dynamics is non-Markovian. The relation between non-Markovianity and the system dimension is studied.     

Negativity of Quantumness and Non-Markovianity in a Qubit Coupled to a Thermal Ising Spin Bath System

We propose a scheme to characterize the non-Markovian dynamics and quantify the non-Markovianity via the non-classicality measured by the negativity of quantumness. By considering a qubit in contact with a critical Ising spin bath and introducing an ancilla, we show that revivals of negativity of quantumness indicate the non-Markovian dynamics. Furthermore, a normalized measure of non-Markovianity based on the negativity of quantumness is introduced and the influences of bath criticality, bath temperature and bath size on the non-Markovianity are discussed. It is shown that, at the critical point, the decay of non-Markovianity versus the size of spin bath is the fastest and the non-Markovianity is exactly zero only in the thermodynamic limit. Besides, non-trivial behaviours of negativity of quantumness such as sudden change, double sudden changes and keeping constant are found for different relations between parameters of the initial state. Finally, how the non-classicality of the system is affected by a series of bang-bang pulses is also examined.     

Comparison between non-Markovian dynamics with and without rotating wave approximation

In the limit of weak coupling between a system and its reservoir,we derive the time-convolutionless(TCL) nonMarkovian master equation for a two-level system interacting with a zero-temperature structured environment with no rotating wave approximation(NRWA).By comparing the dynamics with RWA,we demonstrate the impact of RWA on the system dynamics,as well as the effects of non-Markovianity on the preservation of atomic coherence,squeezing,and entanglement.     

Effect of entanglement embedded in environment on quantum non-Markovianity based on collision model

By means of collision models(CMs) where the environment is simulated by a collection of ancillas consisting of two entangled qubits, we investigate the effects of entanglement in the environment on the non-Markovianity of an open quantum system. Two CMs are considered in this study, in the first one the open quantum system S directly collides with the environment,while in the second one the system interacts with two intermediate qubits which, in turn, are coupled to the environment. We show that it is possible to enhance the non-Markovianity by environment entanglement in both models. In particular, in the second model, we show that the initial state of the auxiliary qubits can also affect the non-Markovianity of the system and there exists the optimal combination of the initial environmental state and the initial state of auxiliary qubits. In this case, the non-Markovianity can be greatly enhanced.     

Memory Effects in Quantum Dynamics Modelled by Quantum Renewal Processes

Simple, controllable models play an important role in learning 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.     

Non-Markovian Dynamics of Two-level System in a Composite Environment

We have studied the non-Markovian decoherence dynamics of the two-level system in a composite environment, which consists of a spin-star environment and a boson reservoir. By use of the measures presented recently, we theoretically study the non-Markovianity of the dynamics of the model.     

Quantum Speed Limit and Divisibility of the Dynamical Map

The quantum speed limit (QSL) is the theoretical lower limit of the time for a quantum system to evolve from a given state to another one. Interestingly, it has been shown that non-Markovianity can be used to speed-up the dynamics and to lower the QSL time, although this behaviour is not universal. In this paper, we further carry on the investigation on the connection between QSL and non-Markovianity by looking at the effects of P- and CP-divisibility of the dynamical map to the quantum speed limit. We show that the speed-up can also be observed under P- and CP-divisible dynamics, and that the speed-up is not necessarily tied to the transition from P-divisible to non-P-divisible dynamics.     

Dynamics of non-Markovianity in the presence of a driving field

We investigate a two-level system in a cavity QED by considering the effects of amplitude damping, phase damping and driving field. We have studied the non-Markovianity in resonance and non-resonance limits in the presence of these effects using Breuer–Laine–Piilo (BLP) non-Markovianity measure (N_BLP). The evolution of the system is derived using the time convolutionless (TCL) master equation. In some conditions, it is shown that in the presence of a driving field, the N_BLP increases in the resonance and non-resonance limits. We have also found the exact solution of the master equation in order to investigate the effect of temperature- and environment-excited states. We have shown that the behaviour of non-Markovianity is very different from what one can see from the TCL approach. We have also presented some explanation about the behaviour of non-Markovianity in the exact solution using quantum discord (QD).     

The Role of the Total Entropy Production in the Dynamics of Open Quantum Systems in Detection of Non-Markovianity

The interaction between system and environment is a fundamental concept in the theory of open quantum systems. As a result of the interaction, an amount of correlation (both classical and quantum) emerges between the system and the environment. In this work, we recall the quantity that will be very useful to describe the emergence of the correlation between the system and the environment, namely, the total entropy production. Appearance of total entropy production is due to the entanglement production between the system and the environment. In this work, we discuss about the role of the total entropy production for detecting the non-Markovianity. By utilizing the relation between the total entropy production and total correlation between subsystems, one can see a temporary decrease of total entropy production is a signature of non-Markovianity. We apply our criterion for the special case, where the composite system has initial correlation with environment.     

Non-Markovian Process in the Interaction Between a Four-Level N-Type Atom with a Cavity Field Surrounded by a Kerr Medium

We have investigated the dynamics of a four-level N-type atom in cavity QED with consideration to the Kerr effect. The non-Markovianity of the system has been studied using the Breuer-Laine-Piilo (BLP) measure (N _{B L P} ). Moreover the effects of system parameters like temperature and atom-field coupling have also been discussed. The evolution equation of the system has been derived using the time convolution-less(TCL) master equation. Some interesting behaviour of the system and their reasons are discussed.

     

Entanglement dynamics of two interacting qubits under the influence of local dissipation

We investigate the dynamics of entanglement given by the concurrence of a two-qubit system in the non-Markovian setting. A quantum master equation is derived, which is solved in the eigenbasis of the system Hamiltonian for X-type initial states. A closed formula for time evolution of concurrence is presented for a pure state. It is shown that under the influence of dissipation non-zero entanglement is created in unentangled two-qubit states which decay in the same way as pure entangled states. We also show that under real circumstances, the decay rate of concurrence is strongly modified by the non-Markovianity of the evolution.     

Non-Markovian Master Equation for Distant Resonators Embedded in a One-Dimensional Waveguide

We develop a master equation approach to describe the dynamics of distant resonators coupled through a one-dimensional waveguide. Our method takes into account the back-actions of the reservoirs, and enables us to calculate the exact dynamics of the complete system at all times. We show that such system can cause nonexponential and long-lived photon decay due to the existence of a relaxation effect. The physical origin of non-Markovianity in our model system is the finite propagation speed resulting in time delays in communication between the nodes, and strong decay rate of the emitters into the waveguide. When the distance satisfies the standing wave condition, we find that when the time delay is increased, the dark modes formation is no longer perfect, and the average photon number of dark mode decreases in steady time limit.     

Non-Markovian Master Equation for Distant Resonators Embedded in a One-Dimensional Waveguide

We develop a master equation approach to describe the dynamics of distant resonators coupled through a one-dimensional waveguide. Our method takes into account the back-actions of the reservoirs, and enables us to calculate the exact dynamics of the complete system at all times. We show that such system can cause nonexponential and long-lived photon decay due to the existence of a relaxation effect. The physical origin of non-Markovianity in our model system is the finite propagation speed resulting in time delays in communication between the nodes, and strong decay rate of the emitters into the waveguide. When the distance satisfies the standing wave condition, we find that when the time delay is increased, the dark modes formation is no longer perfect, and the average photon number of dark mode decreases in steady time limit.     

Distribution of non-Markovian intervals for open qubit systems

We study the non-Markovianity of open qubit systems using the measure N proposed by Breuer, Laine and Piilo [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 210401 (2009)]. We find that for the three types of quantum noises, amplitude-damping, dephasing and depolarizing noises, there exist some non-Markovian time intervals whose distribution is independent of the selection of the pair of initial states. Therefore, the maximization in the definition of measure N can be actually removed without influencing the detection of non-Markovianity.     

Non-Markovian Effects on Entanglement Dynamics of Three Qubits

We investigate entanglement dynamics of three independent qubits each locally interacting with a zero-temperature non-Markovian reservoir. The effects of environment's amount of non-Markovianity or parameters in initial states on the three-qubit entanglement dynamics are presented in detail. It is found that the entanglement of such a system revives after a finite dark period when a proper degree of non-Markovian is present. A deep comparison to that in two-qubit system is also made.     

Quantum Coherence in Non-Markovian Quantum Channels

We numerically simulate quantum coherence in a system of two qubits interacting with a reservoir for non-Markovian channels. The explicit form of the master equation is taken in terms of density-operator elements and is solved according to the initial conditions. In particular, we consider the effect of an Ohmic reservoir (OR) with Lorentz–Drude regularization (LDR) on the extent of coherence during dynamics. We describe the dynamical behavior of the coherence for low, intermediate, and high-temperature reservoirs. We explain the effect of the ratio of the cutoff frequency (CF) to the quantum system frequency and the effect of temperature on the quantum coherence. We show that a decreasing ratio enhances coherence, while an increasing temperature decreases it.

     

Entanglement dynamics and decoherence of two-qutrit states under an XY quantum environment

The time evolution of entanglement and coherence of two-qutrit states under an XY quantum environment which can exhibit a quantum phase transition has been analyzed. From our results, we find that the quantum phase transition can enhance the entanglement decay and coherence loss when the system is weakly coupled to the environment. Furthermore, the effect of the anisotropy parameter and the size of the environment on entanglement dynamics and coherence has also been discussed.