Optimal observables for (non-)equilibrium quantum metrology from the master equation

Abstract:We demonstrate how observables with optimal sensitivity to environmental properties can be constructed explicitly from the master equation of an open quantum system. Our approach does not rely on the explicit solution of the master equation and instead expresses the symmetric logarithmic derivative (SLD), the operator of optimal sensitivity and key quantity in quantum metrology, solely in terms of expectation values. This makes the SLD available to a large class of systems of interest, both in and out of equilibrium. We validate our approach by reproducing the SLD for temperature in quantum Brownian motion and demonstrate its versatility by constructing the optimal observable for the non-equilibrium relaxation rate.

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech); High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

arXiv:2506.23600 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2506.23600v3 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.23600 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

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