English

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

Quantum Physics 2011-09-20 v2

Abstract

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 for the first time 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.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1105.0174,
  title  = {Experimental investigation of initial system-environment correlations via trace distance evolution},
  author = {Andrea Smirne and Davide Brivio and Simone Cialdi and Bassano Vacchini and Matteo G. A. Paris},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1105.0174},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

4 pages, 3 figures; v2: corresponds to published version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T18:01:03.454Z