We address the dynamics of nonclassicality for a quantum system interacting with a noisy fluctuating environment described by a classical stochastic field. As a paradigmatic example, we consider a harmonic oscillator initially prepared in a maximally
nonclassical state, e.g. a Fock number state or a Schroedinger cat-like state, and then coupled to either resonant or non-resonant external field. Stochastic modeling allows us to describe the decoherence dynamics without resorting to approximated quantum master equations, and to introduce non- Markovian effects in a controlled way. A detailed comparison among different nonclassicality criteria and a thorough analysis of the decoherence time reveal a rich phenomenology whose main features may be summarized as follows: i) classical memory effects increase the survival time of quantum coherence; ii) a detuning between the natural frequency of the system and the central frequency of the classical field induces revivals of quantum coherence.
We review the most recent developments in the theory of open quantum systems focusing on situations in which the reservoir memory effects, due to long-lasting and non-negligible correlations between system and environment, play a crucial role. These
systems are often referred to as non-Markovian systems. After a brief summary of different measures of non-Markovianity that have been introduced over the last few years we restrict our analysis to the investigation of information flow between system and environment. Within this framework we introduce an important application of non-Markovianity, namely its use as a quantum probe of complex quantum systems. To illustrate this point we consider quantum probes of ultracold gases, spin chains, and trapped ion crystals and show how properties of these systems can be extracted by means of non-Markovianity measures.
We present a detailed investigation of the dynamics of two physically different qubit models, dephasing under the effect of an ultracold atomic gas in a Bose-Einstein condensed (BEC) state. We study the robustness of each qubit probe against environm
ental noise; even though the two models appear very similar at a first glance, we demonstrate that they decohere in a strikingly different way. This result holds significance for studies of reservoir engineering as well as for using the qubits as quantum probes of the ultracold gas. For each model we study whether and when, upon suitable manipulation of the BEC, the dynamics of the qubit can be described by a (non-)Markovian process and consider the the effect of thermal fluctuations on the qubit dynamics. Finally, we provide an intuitive explanation for the phenomena we observe in terms of the spectral density function of the environment.
We study non-Markovianity and information flow for qubits experiencing local dephasing with an Ohmic class spectrum. We demonstrate the existence of a temperature-dependent critical value of the Ohmicity parameter s for the onset of non-Markovianity
and give a physical interpretation of this phenomenon by linking it to the form of the reservoir spectrum. We demonstrate that this link holds also for more general spectra. We unveil a class of initial states for which discord is forever frozen at a positive value. We connect time invariant discord to non-Markovianity and propose a physical system in which it could be observed.
We consider two recently proposed measures of non-Markovianity applied to a particular quantum process describing the dynamics of a driven qubit in a structured reservoir. The motivation of this study is twofold: on one hand, we study the differences
and analogies of the non-Markovianity measures and on the other hand, we investigate the effect of the driving force on the dissipative dynamics of the qubit. In particular we ask if the drive introduces new channels for energy and/or information transfer between the system and the environment, or amplifies existing ones. We show under which conditions the presence of the drive slows down the inevitable loss of quantum properties of the qubit.
We study a driven two-state system interacting with a structured environment. We introduce the non-Markovian master equation ruling the system dynamics, and we derive its analytic solution for general reservoir spectra. We compare the non-Markovian d
ynamics of the Bloch vector for two classes of reservoir spectra: the Ohmic and the Lorentzian reservoir. Finally, we derive the analytic conditions for complete positivity with and without the secular approximation. Interestingly, the complete positivity conditions have a transparent physical interpretation in terms of the characteristic timescales of phase diffusion and relaxation processes.
