Recurrence for discrete time unitary evolutions

Schur and (q)-Schur algebras (20G43) Notions of recurrence and recurrent behavior in topological dynamical systems (37B20) Discrete-time Markov processes on general state spaces (60J05) Applications of Markov chains and discrete-time Markov processes on general state spaces (social mobility, learning theory, industrial processes, etc.) (60J20) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Quantum state spaces, operational and probabilistic concepts (81P16) Quantum information, communication, networks (quantum-theoretic aspects) (81P45) Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Quantum stochastic calculus (81S25)

Abstract: We consider quantum dynamical systems specified by a unitary operator U and an initial state vector phi. In each step the unitary is followed by a projective measurement checking whether the system has returned to the initial state. We call the system recurrent if this eventually happens with probability one. We show that recurrence is equivalent to the absence of an absolutely continuous part from the spectral measure of U with respect to phi. We also show that in the recurrent case the expected first return time is an integer or infinite, for which we give a topological interpretation. A key role in our theory is played by the first arrival amplitudes, which turn out to be the (complex conjugated) Taylor coefficients of the Schur function of the spectral measure. On the one hand, this provides a direct dynamical interpretation of these coefficients; on the other hand it links our definition of first return times to a large body of mathematical literature.

Review text

The reviewed paper is concerned with the investigation of the recurrence of discrete evolutions in the quantum framework. The fundamental setup consists of a fixed initial state (a Hilbert space vector \(\phi\)) and a one-step quantum evolution represented by a unitary operator \(U\) acting on the same Hilbert space. The authors study several questions related to the probability of returning to the initial state (at all, at a given moment of time, or never). The concepts under investigation are motivated by a very well described analogy with classical Markov chains; in particular the authors explain how they study the evolution interrupted by measurement after every step, and contrast it with an earlier approach of \textit{M. Ŝtefa\^nák} et al. [``Recurrence and Pólya number of quantum walks, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, Article ID 020501 (2008; \url{doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.020501})], based on another interpretation of classical recurrence (`quantum recurrence without monitoring'). More specifically, in the reviewed paper the crucial concept is that of the arrival amplitudes \(a_n=\langle \phi | U\tilde{U}^{n-1} \phi \rangle\), where \(\tilde{U}= (I- | \phi \rangle\langle \phi|) U\) - the evolution corrected by the measurement in the state \(\phi\). The main result in the first part of the paper is that the recurrence of \((U,\phi)\), understood as the equality \(R=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} |a_n|^2=1\), is equivalent to the fact that the Schur function associated to the spectral measure of \(U\) in the state \(\phi\) is inner. Further classical and quantum SJK recurrence are also characterized via speactral conditions. In the second part of the paper the authors study the expected return time in the recurrent case. They show that somewhat unexpectedly it is always an integer and relate it explicitly to properties of the Schur function. Again a comparison with the SJK approach is given. Finally the authors investigate finite quantum systems (so that the spectral measures in question are finitely supported) and transient quantum systems (where spectral measures in question have continuous part). In the latter case the main focus is put on investigating the total return probability \(R\) and natural connections with various models of quantum walks.

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