Gen Kimura

We report a universal improvement to the standard Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty relation. Our result shows that the Robertson–Schrödinger lower bound can be supplemented by a new noncommutativity-induced term. This term represents a previously overlooked quantum contribution and becomes more pronounced as the state becomes more mixed. Moreover, it is expressed as the expectation value of a positive observable, namely the squared modulus of the commutator, and therefore preserves the direct, experimentally accessible character of the Robertson–Schrödinger relation. For two-level quantum systems, our relation becomes an exact equality for any state and any pair of observables, thereby ensuring the tightness of the bound in the strongest possible sense. The relation also yields, as a corollary, a complete proof of a general uncertainty bound that had previously been supported only by numerical evidence.

Relaxation rates define an important characteristics of quantum dynamics. They determine how quickly a quantum system interacting with an environment thermalizes, decoheres, and dissipates. Moreover, relaxation rates are also often directly accessible through experimental measurements. An analysis of relaxation rates of Markovian semigroups covariant w.r.t. maximally commuting subgroup of the unitary group is provided. It is shown by a direct proof that these rates satisfy the recently proved a universal constraint that each single rate is upper-bounded by the sum of all rates divided by the dimension of the Hilbert space. Furthermore, we introduce longitudinal and transversal relaxation rates for a general d -level system and derive nontrivial relations between them in the covariant case. These relations generalize the well-known inequality 2Γ _T ≥ Γ _L between the longitudinal relaxation rate Γ _L and the transversal relaxation rate Γ _T for two-level systems. Interestingly, for d ≥ 3, our generalization turns out to be much tighter than those valid for general quantum dynamical semigroups, thereby providing a potential means for the experimental verification of covariant generators.

Relaxation rates are key characteristics of quantum processes, as they determine how quickly a quantum system thermalizes, equilibrates, decoheres, and dissipates. While they play a crucial role in theoretical analyses, relaxation rates are also often directly accessible through experimental measurements. Recently, it was shown that for quantum processes governed by Markovian semigroups, the relaxation rates satisfy a universal constraint: the maximal rate is upper-bounded by the sum of all rates divided by the dimension of the Hilbert space. This bound, initially conjectured a few years ago, was only recently proven using classical Lyapunov theory. In this work, we present a new, purely algebraic proof of this constraint. Remarkably, our approach is not only more direct but also allows for a natural generalization beyond completely positive semigroups. We show that complete positivity can be relaxed to 2-positivity without affecting the validity of the constraint. This reveals that the bound is more subtle than previously understood: 2-positivity is necessary, but even when further relaxed to Schwarz maps, a slightly weaker -- yet still non-trivial -- universal constraint still holds. Finally, we explore the connection between these bounds and the number of steady states in quantum processes, uncovering a deeper structure underlying their behavior.

The Bell theorem is explored in terms of a trade-off relation between underlying assumptions within the hidden variable model framework. In this paper, recognizing the incorporation of hidden variables as one of the fundamental assumptions, we propose a measure termed `hidden information' taking account of their distribution. This measure quantifies the number of hidden variables that essentially contribute to the empirical statistics. For factorizable models, hidden variable models that satisfy `locality' without adhering to the measurement independence criterion, we derive novel relaxed Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (Bell-CHSH) inequalities. These inequalities elucidate trade-off relations between measurement dependence and hidden information in the CHSH scenario. It is also revealed that the relation gives a necessary and sufficient condition for the measures to be realized by a factorizable model.

Relaxation rates provide important characteristics both for classical and quantum processes. Essentially they control how fast the system thermalizes, equilibrates, decoheres, and/or dissipates. Moreover, very often they are directly accessible to be measured in the laboratory and hence they define key physical properties of the system. Experimentally measured relaxation rates can be used to test validity of a particular theoretical model. Here we analyze a fundamental question: does quantum mechanics provide any nontrivial constraint for relaxation rates? We prove the conjecture formulated a few years ago that any quantum channel implies that a maximal rate is bounded from above by the sum of all the relaxation rates divided by the dimension of the Hilbert space. It should be stressed that this constraint is universal (it is valid for all quantum systems with finite number of energy levels) and it is tight (cannot be improved). In addition, the constraint plays an analogous role to the seminal Bell inequalities and the well known Leggett–Garg inequalities (sometimes called temporal Bell inequalities). Violations of Bell inequalities rule out local hidden variable models, and violations of Leggett–Garg inequalities rule out macrorealism. Similarly, violations of the relaxation bound rule out Markovian (meaning CP-divisible) evolution.

Relaxation rates provide important characteristics both for classical and quantum processes. Essentially they control how fast the system thermalizes, equilibrates, {decoheres, and/or dissipates}. Moreover, very often they are directly accessible to be measured in the laboratory and hence they define key physical properties of the system. Experimentally measured relaxation rates can be used to test validity of a particular theoretical model. Here we analyze a fundamental question: {\em does quantum mechanics provide any nontrivial constraint for relaxation rates?} We prove the conjecture formulated a few years ago that any quantum channel implies that a maximal rate is bounded from above by the sum of all the relaxation rates divided by the dimension of the Hilbert space. It should be stressed that this constraint is universal (it is valid for all quantum systems with finite number of energy levels) and it is tight (cannot be improved). In addition, the constraint plays an analogous role to the seminal Bell inequalities and the well known Leggett-Garg inequalities (sometimes called temporal Bell inequalities). Violations of Bell inequalities rule out local hidden variable models, and violations of Leggett-Garg inequalities rule out macrorealism. Similarly, violations of the bound rule out completely positive-divisible evolution.

Unital qubit Schwarz maps interpolate between positive and completely positive maps. It is shown that relaxation rates of qubit semigroups of unital maps enjoying Schwarz property satisfy the universal constraint which provides a modification of the corresponding constraint known for completely positive semigroups. As an illustration we consider two paradigmatic qubit semigroups: Pauli dynamical maps and phase covariant dynamics. This result has two interesting implications: it provides a universal constraint for the spectra of qubit Schwarz maps and gives rise to a necessary condition for a Schwarz qubit map to be Markovian.