English

Precision Limits of Multiparameter Markovian-Noise Metrology

Quantum Physics 2026-04-17 v1

Abstract

Measuring stochastic signals ("noise metrology") constitutes a central task in quantum sensing and the characterization of open quantum systems. Here we establish ultimate precision bounds for multiparameter estimation of stochastic signals encoded through Markovian Lindblad dynamics, allowing for arbitrary quantum control and noiseless ancillae. Although Markovianity enforces standard-quantum-limit scaling with sensing time TT, our bounds reveal Heisenberg-type scaling in the number of dissipative channels, RR: when the stochastic signal exhibits high-rank correlations across the RR channels and the probe is entangled, the average variance (per parameter) scales no better than Ω(1/(TR2))\Omega(1/(TR^2)). For collective kk-body dissipation, R=Θ(Nk)R=\Theta(N^k), signifying super-Heisenberg scaling with the system size NN. We further show that, when the unknown parameters enter through the dissipative eigenrates, a Rapid Prepare-and-Measure (RPM) protocol that tracks many distinct quantum jumps in parallel attains these limits. In this regime, the estimation problem reduces to a multi-Poisson counting model, providing a conceptually clean route to optimal quantum noise metrology. We illustrate the breadth of the framework with applications to networked noise metrology, collective many-body dissipation, learning Pauli noise, and subdiffraction quantum imaging.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.14298,
  title  = {Precision Limits of Multiparameter Markovian-Noise Metrology},
  author = {Anthony J. Brady and Yu-Xin Wang and Luis Pedro García-Pintos and Alexey V. Gorshkov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.14298},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

39 pages (17 main text + 22 appendices). Comments and feedback are welcome