Leggett-Garg inequality in Markovian quantum dynamics: role of temporal sequencing of coupling to bath

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the order of interactions with Markovian baths affects the violation of Leggett-Garg inequalities in a two-level quantum system, revealing thresholds of decoherence for maximal violation.

Contribution

It provides an analytic expression for LGI violation in Markovian dynamics and highlights the role of temporal sequencing and decoherence thresholds in reaching the L"uders bound.

Findings

Maximum LGI violation cannot exceed L"uders bound of 3/2.

Non-unitary unital maps prevent reaching the L"uders bound.

Decoherence beyond half the Bloch vector length inhibits maximal LGI violation.

Abstract

We study Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGIs) for a two level system (TLS) undergoing Markovian dynamics described by unital maps. We find analytic expression of LG parameter $K_{3}$ (simplest variant of LGIs) in terms of the parameters of two distinct unital maps representing time evolution for intervals: $t_{1}$ to $t_{2}$ and $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$. We show that the maximum violation of LGI for these maps can never exceed well known L\"{u}ders bound of $K_{3}^{L\ddot{u}ders}=3/2$ over the full parameter space. We further show that if the map for the time interval $t_{1}$ to $t_{2}$ is non-unitary unital then irrespective of the choice of the map for interval $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$ we can never reach L\"{u}ders bound. On the other hand, if the measurement operator eigenstates remain pure upon evolution from $t_{1}$ to $t_{2}$, then depending on the degree of decoherence induced by the unital map for the interval $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$ we may or may not obtain L\"{u}ders bound. Specifically, we find that if the unital map for interval $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$ leads to the shrinking of the Bloch vector beyond half of its unit length, then achieving the bound $K_{3}^{L\ddot{u}ders}$ is not possible. Hence our findings not only establish a threshold for decoherence which will allow for $K_{3} = K_{3}^{L\ddot{u}ders}$, but also demonstrate the importance of temporal sequencing of the exposure of a TLS to Markovian baths in obtaining L\"{u}ders bound.