How two spins can thermalize a third spin.

We consider thermalization of a microscopic quantum system by interaction with a thermal bath. Our interest is the minimal size the bath can have while still being able to thermalize the system. Within a specific thermalization scheme, we show that a single spin 1/2 can be fully thermalized by interaction with a bath that consists of just two other spins 1/2.

Distance dependence of entanglement generation via a bosonic heat bath.

Within a generalized Caldeira-Leggett model, we analyze the conditions under which a bosonic heat bath can entangle two microscopic quantum systems at a distance r. We find that the attainable entanglement is extremely distance-sensitive. Significant entanglement can only be achieved if the systems are within a microscopic distance that is of order of the cutoff wavelength lambda of the system-bath interaction.

Quantum error correction in spatially correlated quantum noise.

We consider quantum error correction of quantum noise that is created by a local interaction of qubits with a common bosonic bath. The possible exchange of bath bosons between qubits gives rise to spatial and temporal correlations in the noise. We find that these kinds of noise correlations have a strong negative impact on quantum error correction.