English

$\boldsymbol{\alpha_{>}(\epsilon) = \alpha_{<}(\epsilon)}$ For The Margolus-Levitin Quantum Speed Limit Bound

Quantum Physics 2023-10-06 v3

Abstract

The Margolus-Levitin (ML) bound says that for any time-independent Hamiltonian, the time needed to evolve from one quantum state to another is at least πα(ϵ)/(2EE0)\pi \alpha(\epsilon) / (2 \langle E-E_0 \rangle), where EE0\langle E-E_0 \rangle is the expected energy of the system relative to the ground state of the Hamiltonian and α(ϵ)\alpha(\epsilon) is a function of the fidelity ϵ\epsilon between the two state. For a long time, only a upper bound α>(ϵ)\alpha_{>}(\epsilon) and lower bound α<(ϵ)\alpha_{<}(\epsilon) are known although they agree up to at least seven significant figures. Lately, H\"{o}rnedal and S\"{o}nnerborn proved an analytical expression for α(ϵ)\alpha(\epsilon), fully classified systems whose evolution times saturate the ML bound, and gave this bound a symplectic-geometric interpretation. Here I solve the same problem through an elementary proof of the ML bound. By explicitly finding all the states that saturate the ML bound, I show that α>(ϵ)\alpha_{>}(\epsilon) is indeed equal to α<(ϵ)\alpha_{<}(\epsilon). More importantly, I point out a numerical stability issue in computing α>(ϵ)\alpha_{>}(\epsilon) and report a simple way to evaluate it efficiently and accurately.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2305.10101,
  title  = {$\boldsymbol{\alpha_{>}(\epsilon) = \alpha_{<}(\epsilon)}$ For The Margolus-Levitin Quantum Speed Limit Bound},
  author = {H. F. Chau},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.10101},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

Extensively revised for clarity, 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PRA