Witnessing quantum memory in non-Markovian processes

Abstract

We present a method to detect quantum memory in a non-Markovian process. We call a process Markovian when the environment does not provide a memory that retains correlations across different system-environment interactions. We define two types of non-Markovian processes, depending on the required memory being classical or quantum. We formalise this distinction using the process matrix formalism, through which a process is represented as a multipartite state. Within this formalism, a test for entanglement in a state can be mapped to a test for quantum memory in the corresponding process. This allows us to apply separability criteria and entanglement witnesses to the detection of quantum memory. We demonstrate the method in a simple model where both system and environment are single interacting qubits and map the parameters that lead to quantum memory. As with entanglement witnesses, our method of witnessing quantum memory provides a versatile experimental tool for open quantum systems.