English

Precision limits for time-dependent quantum metrology under Markovian noise

Quantum Physics 2026-05-19 v1

Abstract

We derive ultimate precision bounds for estimating parameters encoded in \emph{time-dependent} Hamiltonians in the presence of general Markovian noise, allowing for arbitrary adaptive protocols with fast controls and noiseless ancillas. Extending the minimization-over-purifications framework to time-varying continuous channels, we obtain a differential upper bound on the achievable quantum Fisher information (QFI) that can be evaluated at all times via semidefinite programming. For parameter-independent noise, we prove a universal long-time scaling law: if the coherent (noiseless) dynamics yields Qcoh(T)T2kQ_{\mathrm{coh}}(T)\sim T^{2k}, then under Markovian noise the QFI scales at most as Q(T)T2kQ(T)\sim T^{2k} in the DHNLS regime, whereas in the DHLS regime it is fundamentally limited to Q(T)T2k1Q(T)\sim T^{2k-1}. We illustrate these behaviors on paradigmatic driven-qubit sensors, exhibiting T4T^{4} and T3T^{3} scalings under dephasing and spontaneous emission, respectively. Finally, we provide explicit continuous exact and approximate quantum error correction constructions -- supplemented by spin-squeezed probes -- that asymptotically saturate the bounds, establishing their tightness.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.18392,
  title  = {Precision limits for time-dependent quantum metrology under Markovian noise},
  author = {Luca Previdi and Francesco Albarelli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.18392},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Preliminary version. Anyway comments are welcome!

R2 v1 2026-07-22T07:19:07.927Z