Enhancement of macroscopic quantum tunneling by Landau-Zener transitions

Motivated by recent realizations of qubits with a readout by macroscopic quantum tunneling in a Josephson junction, we study the problem of barrier penetration in the presence of coupling to a spin-1 / 2 system. It is shown that, when the diabatic potentials for fixed spin intersect in the barrier region, Landau-Zener transitions lead to an enhancement of the tunneling rate. The effect of these spin flips in imaginary time is in qualitative agreement with experimental observations.     

Quantum jumps in Landau-Zener transitions in the dissipative dynamics of a superconducting qubit

The effect of noise on the populations of the levels of a qubit in individual experimental implementations has been studied by the quantum trajectory method. A transition to the average dynamics obtained by means of multiple measurements of the state of the qubit is analyzed. The developed method is applied to investigate the effect of noise on the interference pattern appearing in the amplitude spectroscopy of the qubit in a strong variable field owing to Landau-Zener transitions. The effect of the number of repeated measurements and the fluctuation of the phase of a pump pulse on the formation of the response of the qubit to the external field has been analyzed. This makes it possible to interpret recent experiments in terms of individual implementations and averaged dynamics.     

Behavior of a quantum particle in contact with a classical heat bath

We investigate the behavior of a two-level quantum system in contact with a classical heat bath, e.g., a solute particle with internal degrees of freedom immersed in a solvent of massive particles. Using a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we obtain precise information about localization, time-displaced correlation functions, and the frequency-dependent susceptibility of such solute particles. We find that these quantities can have a strong dependence on the density of the solvent fluid, with the maximum changes from the behavior of the corresponding isolated quantum system occurring in many cases at very low densities. We compare the exact results with those obtained by path integral Monte Carlo. There is good agreement with the imaginary time correlations, but analytic continuation to real time proves elusive: even with the best numerical data on the former, we can only get very gross features of the latter.     

The correlation function for a quantum oscillator in a low-temperature heat bath

The momentum autocorrelation function c(t) for a quantum oscillator coupled with harmonic forces to a heat bath of oscillators is calculated at low temperatures. It is found that c(t) contains two distinct terms: one, the zero-point contribution c₀(t), is temperature independent, and the other, c₁(t), does depend on temperature. We concentrate our attention on the low-temperature case. An expression for c₁(t) is obtained, which is valid for arbitrary strenghts of the coupling and for arbitrary times. It is shown that c₁(t) is governed by the low-frequency behaviour of F(λ) = A²(λ)ϱ(λ), where ϱ(λ) is the density of normal modes and A(λ) is the central-oscillator component of the λth normal mode; other details of the problem are irrelevant. It is found that c₁(t) decays in time as an inverse-power law, with a relaxation time t_q ≈ ħ/kT.     

Entanglement entropy, decoherence, and quantum phase transitions of a dissipative two-level system

The concept of entanglement entropy appears in multiple contexts, from black hole physics to quantum information theory, where it measures the entanglement of quantum states. We investigate the entanglement entropy in a simple model, the spin-boson model, which describes a qubit (two-level system) interacting with a collection of harmonic oscillators that models the environment responsible for decoherence and dissipation. The entanglement entropy allows to make a precise unification between entanglement of the spin with its environment, decoherence, and quantum phase transitions. We derive exact analytical results which are confirmed by Numerical Renormalization Group arguments both for an ohmic and a subohmic bosonic bath. The entanglement entropy obeys universal scalings. We make comparisons with entanglement properties in the quantum Ising model and in the Dicke model. We also emphasize the possibility of measuring this entropy using charge qubits subject to electromagnetic noise; such measurements would provide an empirical proof of the existence of entanglement entropy.     

Quantum phases and Landau-Zener transitions in oscillating fields

A method for treating the adiabatic evolution opf periodically time-dependent qantum systems is developed and applied to calculate Berry phases and Landau-Zenet transition probabilities. It is shown that frequency variation affects the dynamical phase and leads to a modification of the Landau-Zener formula.     

The excitation of a quantum gas of independent fermions in a deforming cavity: periodicity of driving vs. Landau-Zener transitions

The numerically calculated excitation of a quantum gas of 112 non-interacting fermions in a hard-walled cavity changing its shape is analysed for one and for half of the oscillation cycle. Spheroidal and Legendre polynomial distortions, P₂, P₃, P₄, P₅ and P₆, around the sphere and the octupole deformed shape are considered. Oscillations of the excitation energy as a function of the driving frequency, especially pronounced for low frequencies, are related to quantum interference between Landau-Zener transitions at successively traversed avoided crossings. This irregular component of excitation may be linked to the periodicity of the driving motion since it is strongly suppressed for one-half of the oscillation period. It is argued that the wall formula describes quantum one-body dissipation in aperiodic processes better than in periodic ones.     

Finite time thermodynamic analysis of quantum Otto heat engine with squeezed thermal bath

We investigate the finite time performance of reciprocating quantum Otto heat engine coupled to squeezed hot reservoir. We emphasize the converged limit cycle where each stroke is performed in finite time. To fully exploit the quantum availability provided by the squeezed bath, an optimal frequency protocol in the work extraction stroke is explicitly proposed. The power output is optimized with respect to the hot and cold isochore times. Thermodynamic analysis shows that for a wide range of squeezing parameters, efficiency at maximum power exceeds the generalized Curzon–Ahlborn efficiency defined by the effective temperature of the squeezed bath.     

Dynamical quantum phase transitions in the dissipative Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model with proposed realization in optical cavity QED

We present an optical cavity QED configuration that is described by a dissipative version of the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model of an infinitely coordinated spin system. This open quantum system exhibits both first- and second-order nonequilibrium quantum phase transitions as a single, effective field parameter is varied. Light emitted from the cavity offers measurable signatures of the critical behavior, including that of the spin-spin entanglement.     

Pure states resulting from decoherence in periodic Landau-Zener transitions

In the paper researches of human's greater circulation, modeled as an electric equivalent circuit were presented. The results of investigations were obtained by applying of electric equivalent circuit and compared with data supplied by a physical, hydrodynamic model of the circulatory system, elaborated by the Biocybernetics Group at the Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development (Zabrze, Poland).     

High-fidelity quantum state transfer through a dissipative quantum data bus

We propose and analyze a robust quantum state transfer protocol through a scalable quantum data bus that consists of a network of controlled dissipative modules. In particular, we first demonstrate the ability to achieve perfect state transfer between two distinct quantum sites which are adiabatically coupled to the data bus in non-dissipative situation. We then consider the role of dissipation in adiabatic quantum state transfer via using Born–Markov master equation in the standard Lindblad form. Numerical simulation shows that the dissipation effect on the quality of transmission can be suppressed by engineering the network couplings of data bus properly.     

Photon radiation in a heat bath

We discuss the bremsstrahlung of photons into a heat bath, and calculate from first principles the energy radiated. Even to lowest order the spectrum of the radiation at low frequency is no more singular than at zero temperature. In addition to the obvious contributions, this spectrum includes terms associated with fluctuations.     

Anomalous decoherence effect in a quantum bath

Decoherence of quantum objects in noisy environments is important in quantum sciences and technologies. It is generally believed that different processes coupled to the same noise source have similar decoherence behaviors and stronger noises cause faster decoherence. Here we show that in a quantum bath, the case can be the opposite. We predict that the multitransition of a nitrogen-vacancy center spin-1 in diamond can have longer coherence time than the single transitions, even though the former suffers twice stronger noises from the nuclear spin bath than the latter. This anomalous decoherence effect is due to manipulation of the bath evolution via flips of the center spin.