Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2025

Gradient Echo Quantum Memory in Warm Atomic Vapor
Published on: November 11, 2013
Accelerated Decay due to Operator Spreading in Bulk-Dissipated Quantum Systems
Tatsuhiko Shirai1, Takashi Mori2
1Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, <a href="https://ror.org/00ntfnx83">Waseda University</a>, Nishi Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0051, Japan.
Abstract:
Markovian open many-body quantum systems display complicated relaxation dynamics. The spectral gap of the Liouvillian characterizes the asymptotic decay rate towards the stationary state, but it has recently been pointed out that the spectral gap does not necessarily determine the overall relaxation time. Our understanding on the relaxation process before the asymptotically long-time regime is still limited. We here present a collective relaxation dynamics of autocorrelation functions in the stationary state. As a key quantity in the analysis, we introduce the instantaneous decay rate, which characterizes the transient relaxation and converges to the conventional asymptotic decay rate in the long-time limit. Our theory predicts that a bulk-dissipated system generically shows an accelerated decay before the asymptotic regime due to the scrambling of quantum information associated with the operator spreading.
Related Concept Videos
The de Broglie Wavelength
Deactivation Processes: Jablonski Diagram
Atomic Nuclei: Types of Nuclear Relaxation
In spin–lattice or longitudinal relaxation, the excited spins exchange energy with the surrounding lattice as they return to the lower energy level. Among several mechanisms that contribute to spin–lattice relaxation, magnetic dipolar interactions are significant. Here, the excited nucleus transfers...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are...

