Wave-Particle Duality in Complex Quantum Systems.

Stunning progress in the experimental resolution and control of natural or man-made complex systems at the level of their quantum mechanical constituents raises the question, across diverse subdisciplines of physics, chemistry, and biology, whether the fundamental quantum nature may condition the dynamical and functional system properties on mesoscopic if not macroscopic scales. However, which are the distinctive signatures of quantum properties in complex systems, notably when modulated by environmental stochasticity and dynamical instabilities? It appears that, to settle this question across the above communities, a shared understanding is needed of the central feature of quantum mechanics: wave-particle duality. In this Perspective, we elaborate how randomness induced by this very quantum property can be discerned from the stochasticity ubiquitous in complex systems already on the classical level.

Quantum corrections of the truncated Wigner approximation applied to an exciton transport model.

We modify the path integral representation of exciton transport in open quantum systems such that an exact description of the quantum fluctuations around the classical evolution of the system is possible. As a consequence, the time evolution of the system observables is obtained by calculating the average of a stochastic difference equation which is weighted with a product of pseudoprobability density functions. From the exact equation of motion one can clearly identify the terms that are also present if we apply the truncated Wigner approximation.

Nonlocal memory effects allow perfect teleportation with mixed states.

One of the most striking consequences of quantum physics is quantum teleportation - the possibility to transfer quantum states over arbitrary distances. Since its theoretical introduction, teleportation has been demonstrated experimentally up to the distance of 143 km. In the original proposal two parties share a maximally entangled quantum state acting as a resource for the teleportation task.

Generic features of the dynamics of complex open quantum systems: statistical approach based on averages over the unitary group.

We obtain exact analytic expressions for a class of functions expressed as integrals over the Haar measure of the unitary group in d dimensions. Based on these general mathematical results, we investigate generic dynamical properties of complex open quantum systems, employing arguments from ensemble theory. We further generalize these results to arbitrary eigenvalue distributions, allowing a detailed comparison of typical regular and chaotic systems with the help of concepts from random matrix theory.

Nonlocal memory effects in the dynamics of open quantum systems.

We explore the possibility to generate nonlocal dynamical maps of an open quantum system through local system-environment interactions. Employing a generic decoherence process induced by a local interaction Hamiltonian, we show that initial correlations in a composite environment can lead to nonlocal open system dynamics which exhibit strong memory effects, although the local dynamics is Markovian. In a model of two entangled photons interacting with two dephasing environments, we find a direct connection between the degree of memory effects and the amount of correlation in the initial environmental state.

Detecting nonclassical system-environment correlations by local operations.

We develop a general strategy for the detection of nonclassical system-environment correlations in the initial states of an open quantum system. The method employs a dephasing map which operates locally on the open system and leads to an experimentally accessible witness for genuine quantum correlations, measuring the Hilbert-Schmidt distance between pairs of open system states. We further derive the expectation value of the witness for various random matrix ensembles modeling generic features of complex quantum systems.

Entanglement dynamics of a strongly driven trapped atom.

We study the entanglement between the internal electronic and the external vibrational degrees of freedom of a trapped atom which is driven by two lasers into electromagnetically induced transparency. It is shown that basic features of the intricate entanglement dynamics can be traced to Landau-Zener splittings (avoided crossings) in the spectrum of the atom-laser field Hamiltonian. We further construct an effective Hamiltonian that describes the behavior of entanglement under dissipation induced by spontaneous emission processes.

Stochastic simulation algorithm for the quantum linear Boltzmann equation.

We develop a Monte Carlo wave function algorithm for the quantum linear Boltzmann equation, a Markovian master equation describing the quantum motion of a test particle interacting with the particles of an environmental background gas. The algorithm leads to a numerically efficient stochastic simulation procedure for the most general form of this integrodifferential equation, which involves a five-dimensional integral over microscopically defined scattering amplitudes that account for the gas interactions in a nonperturbative fashion. The simulation technique is used to assess various limiting forms of the quantum linear Boltzmann equation, such as the limits of pure collisional decoherence and quantum Brownian motion, the Born approximation, and the classical limit.

Measure for the degree of non-markovian behavior of quantum processes in open systems.

We construct a general measure for the degree of non-Markovian behavior in open quantum systems. This measure is based on the trace distance which quantifies the distinguishability of quantum states. It represents a functional of the dynamical map describing the time evolution of physical states, and can be interpreted in terms of the information flow between the open system and its environment.

Structure of completely positive quantum master equations with memory kernel.

Semi-Markov processes represent a well-known and widely used class of random processes in classical probability theory. Here, we develop an extension of this type of non-Markovian dynamics to the quantum regime. This extension is demonstrated to yield quantum master equations with memory kernels which allow the formulation of explicit conditions for the complete positivity of the corresponding quantum dynamical maps, thus leading to important insights into the structural characterization of the non-Markovian quantum dynamics of open systems.

Quantum semi-Markov processes.

We construct a large class of non-Markovian master equations that describe the dynamics of open quantum systems featuring strong memory effects, which relies on a quantum generalization of the concept of classical semi-Markov processes. General conditions for the complete positivity of the corresponding quantum dynamical maps are formulated. The resulting non-Markovian quantum processes allow the treatment of a variety of physical systems, as is illustrated by means of various examples and applications, including quantum optical systems and models of quantum transport.

Transition from diffusive to ballistic dynamics for a class of finite quantum models.

The transport of excitation probabilities amongst weakly coupled subunits is investigated for a class of finite quantum systems. It is demonstrated that the dynamical behavior of the transported quantity depends on the considered length scale; e.g.

Three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of the quantum linear Boltzmann equation.

Recently the general form of a translation-covariant quantum Boltzmann equation has been derived, which describes the dynamics of a tracer particle in a quantum gas. We develop a stochastic wave function algorithm that enables full three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of this equation. The simulation method is used to study the approach to equilibrium for various scattering cross sections and to determine dynamical deviations from Gaussian statistics through an investigation of higher-order cumulants.

Modeling heat transport through completely positive maps.

We investigate heat transport in a spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain, coupled locally to independent thermal baths of different temperature. The analysis is carried out within the framework of the theory of open systems by means of appropriate quantum master equations. The standard microscopic derivation of the weak-coupling Lindblad equation in the secular approximation is considered, and shown to be inadequate for the description of stationary nonequilibrium properties like a nonvanishing energy current.

Stochastic analysis and simulation of spin star systems.

We discuss two methods of an exact stochastic representation of the non-Markovian quantum dynamics of open systems. The first method employs a pair of stochastic product vectors in the total system's state space, while the second method uses a pair of state vectors in the open system's state space and a random operator acting on the state space of the environment. Both techniques lead to an exact solution of the von Neumann equation for the density matrix of the total system.

Optimal entanglement criterion for mixed quantum states.

We develop a strong and computationally simple entanglement criterion. The criterion is based on an elementary positive map Phi which operates on state spaces with even dimension N > or = 4. It is shown that Phi detects many entangled states with a positive partial transposition (PPT) and that it leads to a class of optimal entanglement witnesses.

Non-Markovian quantum dynamics: correlated projection superoperators and Hilbert space averaging.

The time-convolutionless (TCL) projection operator technique allows a systematic analysis of the non-Markovian quantum dynamics of open systems. We present a class of projection superoperators that project the states of the total system onto certain correlated system-environment states. It is shown that the application of the TCL technique to this class of correlated superoperators enables the nonperturbative treatment of the dynamics of system-environment models for which the standard approach fails in any finite order of the coupling strength.