On the mixing-enhancing dynamical maps and mixing-enhancing evolution of a quantum system (Q1070179): Difference between revisions

To study a quantum-mechanical system that is affected by its surroundings, one may consider transformations of the set of mixed states into itself. Then it is interesting to know which transformations increase the degree of mixing. This can be given precise meaning by defining a partial order on mixed states: \(\rho\) is more mixed than \(\rho\) ' if certain inequalities are satisfied by the eigenvalues of the density operators of \(\rho\) and \(\rho\) '. A transformation \(\Lambda\) is mixing-enhancing if \(\Lambda\) \(\rho\) is always more mixed than \(\rho\). After introductory examples and citations of the literature, the present paper gives a technical definition of a physically reasonable set of ''dynamical maps''. These main new results are (Theorem 3.1) a necessary and sufficient condition for a single dynamical map to be mixing- enhancing, and (Theorem 4.1) a similar characterization of those semigroups of dynamical maps whose elements are all mixing-enhancing.