Open quantum system in the indefinite environment

TL;DR

This paper explores how indefinite environments, created via interferometers or auxiliary qubits, can enhance quantum correlations and serve as resources for quantum information tasks by manipulating environmental superpositions.

Contribution

It introduces a model for indefinite environments using fully connected qubit baths and analyzes their impact on quantum correlations and information processing.

Findings

Indefinite environments can significantly enhance quantum correlations.

Only statistical mixtures preserve influences when path coherence is destroyed.

Indefiniteness can be utilized for teleportation and quantum parameter estimation.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the interference engineering of the open quantum system, where the environment is made indefinite either through the use of an interferometer or the introduction of auxiliary qubits. The environments are modeled by fully connected qubit baths with exact analytical dynamics. As the system passes through the interferometer or is controlled by auxiliary qubits, it is propagated along different paths or their superpositions, leading to distinct interactions with the environment in each path. This results in the superposition of the environments, which can be detected through specific measurements that retain certain coherent information about the paths. Our results demonstrate that the indefiniteness of the environment can significantly enhance the quantum correlations. However, only the statistical mixture of the influences from the environments preserves provided that the path coherence is destructed. We also examine the serviceability of the indefiniteness as a resource for teleportation and quantum parameter estimation. Additionally, we discuss how to quantify the indefiniteness and the ways in which it affects the system's dynamics from the perspective of wave-particle-entanglement-ignorance complementarity. Overall, our study highlights the potential benefits of an indefinite environment in quantum information processing and sheds light on the fundamental principles underlying its effects.