Non-Markovian Dynamics of Macroscopic Quantum Systems in Interaction with Non-Equilibrium Environments

TL;DR

This paper investigates how non-equilibrium environments influence the dynamics of macroscopic superconducting qubits, revealing non-Markovian effects and non-additive reservoir interactions that affect coherence and decoherence times.

Contribution

It demonstrates the non-additivity of reservoir effects and the non-Markovian nature of non-equilibrium environments on macroscopic quantum systems.

Findings

Non-equilibrium environments enhance both coherent and incoherent evolution.

Interference between reservoirs affects short-time dynamics.

Non-Markovian effects cause non-additivity of reservoir influences.

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a macroscopic superconducting qubit coupled to two independent non-stationary reservoirs by using time-dependent perturbation theory. We show that an equilibrium environment surpasses the coherent evolution of the macroscopic qubit completely. When the qubit couples to two different reservoirs, exemplifying a non-equilibrium environment, the short-time dynamics is affected by the interference between two reservoirs, implying the non-additivity of effects of two reservoirs. The non-additivity can be traced back to a non-Markovian effect, even though two reservoirs are independently assumed to be Markovian. Explicitly, the non-equilibrium environment intensifies both coherent and incoherent parts of the evolution. Therefore, the macroscopic qubit would evolve more coherently but at the price of a shorter decoherence time.