Experimental investigation of initial system-environment correlations via trace-distance evolution

Journal Article · Thu Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.84.032112· OSTI ID:22068634

Smirne, Andrea; Cialdi, Simone; Vacchini, Bassano ^[1]; Brivio, Davide ^[1]; Paris, Matteo G. A. ^[1]

---

1. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milan (Italy)

The trace distance between two states of an open quantum system quantifies their distinguishability and, for a fixed environmental state, can increase above its initial value only in the presence of initial system-environment correlations. We provide experimental evidence of such a behavior. In our all-optical apparatus, we exploit spontaneous parametric down conversion as a source of polarization entangled states and a spatial light modulator to introduce in a general fashion correlations between the polarization and the momentum degrees of freedom, which act as environment.

• OSTI ID: 22068634
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 84, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: Syrian Arab Republic; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CONVERSION
CORRELATIONS
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
DISTANCE
POLARIZATION
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT