Time-dependent density functional theory for open spin chains

The application of methods of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) to systems of qubits provided the interesting possibility of simulating an assigned Hamiltonian evolution by means of an auxiliary Hamiltonian having different two-qubit interactions and hence a possibly simpler wave function evolution. In this note we extend these methods to some instances of Lindblad evolution of a spin chain.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

A quantum-walk-inspired adiabatic algorithm for graph isomorphism

We present a 2-local quantum algorithm for graph isomorphism GI based on an adiabatic protocol. By exploiting continuous-time quantum-walks, we are able to avoid a mere diffusion over all possible configurations and to significantly reduce the dimensionality of the visited space. Within this restricted space, the graph isomorphism problem can be translated into the search of a satisfying assignment to a 2-SAT formula without resorting to perturbation gadgets or projective techniques. We present an analysis of the execution time of the algorithm on small instances of the graph isomorphism problem and discuss the issue of an implementation of the proposed adiabatic scheme on current quantum computing hardware.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Coherent Transport of Quantum States by Deep Reinforcement Learning

Some problems in physics can be handled only after a suitable \textit{ansatz }solution has been guessed. Such method is therefore resilient to generalization, resulting of limited scope. The coherent transport by adiabatic passage of a quantum state through an array of semiconductor quantum dots provides a par excellence example of such approach, where it is necessary to introduce its so called counter-intuitive control gate ansatz pulse sequence. Instead, deep reinforcement learning technique has proven to be able to solve very complex sequential decision-making problems involving competition between short-term and long-term rewards, despite a lack of prior knowledge. We show that in the above problem deep reinforcement learning discovers control sequences outperforming the \textit{ansatz} counter-intuitive sequence. Even more interesting, it discovers novel strategies when realistic disturbances affect the ideal system, with better speed and fidelity when energy detuning between the ground states of quantum dots or dephasing are added to the master equation, also mitigating the effects of losses. This method enables online update of realistic systems as the policy convergence is boosted by exploiting the prior knowledge when available. Deep reinforcement learning proves effective to control dynamics of quantum states, and more generally it applies whenever an ansatz solution is unknown or insufficient to effectively treat the problem.Comment: 5 figure

Precursors of non-Markovianity

Using the paradigm of information backflow to characterize a non-Markovian evolution, we introduce so-called precursors of non-Markovianity, i.e. necessary properties that the system and environment state must exhibit at earlier times in order for an ensuing dynamics to be non-Markovian. In particular, we consider a quantitative framework to assess the role that established system-environment correlations together with changes in environmental states play in an emerging non-Markovian dynamics. By defining the relevant contributions in terms of the Bures distance, which is conveniently expressed by means of the quantum state fidelity, these quantities are well defined and easily applicable to a wide range of physical settings. We exemplify this by studying our precursors of non-Markovianity in discrete and continuous variable non-Markovian collision models.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Close to published versio

Non-perturbative treatment of non-Markovian dynamics of open quantum systems

We identify the conditions that guarantee equivalence of the reduced dynamics of an open quantum system (OQS) for two different types of environments - one a continuous bosonic environment leading to a unitary system-environment evolution and the other a discrete-mode bosonic environment resulting in a system-mode (non-unitary) Lindbladian evolution. Assuming initial Gaussian states for the environments, we prove that the two OQS dynamics are equivalent if both the expectation values and two-time correlation functions of the environmental interaction operators are the same at all times for the two configurations. Since the numerical and analytical description of a discrete-mode environment undergoing a Lindbladian evolution is significantly more efficient than that of a continuous bosonic environment in a unitary evolution, our result represents a powerful, non-perturbative tool to describe complex and possibly highly non-Markovian dynamics. As a special application, we recover and generalize the well-known pseudomodes approach to open system dynamics.Comment: 5+4 pages, 2 figures, Close to the version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Quantum annealing and the Schr\"odinger-Langevin-Kostin equation

We show, in the context of quantum combinatorial optimization, or quantum annealing, how the nonlinear Schr\"odinger-Langevin-Kostin equation can dynamically drive the system toward its ground state. We illustrate, moreover, how a frictional force of Kostin type can prevent the appearance of genuinely quantum problems such as Bloch oscillations and Anderson localization which would hinder an exhaustive search.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. To appear on Physical Review

Efficient simulation of finite-temperature open quantum systems

Chain-mapping techniques in combination with the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group are a powerful tool for the simulation of open-system quantum dynamics. For finite-temperature environments, however, this approach suffers from an unfavorable algorithmic scaling with increasing temperature. We prove that the system dynamics under thermal environments can be non-perturbatively described by temperature-dependent system-environmental couplings with the initial environment state being in its pure vacuum state, instead of a mixed thermal state. As a consequence, as long as the initial system state is pure, the global system-environment state remains pure at all times. The resulting speedup and relaxed memory requirements of this approach enable the efficient simulation of open quantum systems interacting with highly structured environments in any temperature range, with applications extending from quantum thermodynamics to quantum effects in mesoscopic systems.Comment: 5+5 pages, close to published versio