We discuss quantum speed limits (QSLs) for finite-dimensional quantum systems undergoing general physical processes. These QSLs were obtained using two families of entropic measures, namely, the square root of the Jensen-Shannon divergence, which in turn defines a faithful distance of quantum states, and the square root of the quantum Jeffreys divergence. The results apply to both closed and open quantum systems and are evaluated in terms of the Schatten speed of the evolved state, as well as cost functions that depend on the smallest and largest eigenvalues of both initial and instantaneous states of the quantum system. To illustrate our findings, we focus on the unitary and nonunitary dynamics of mixed single-qubit states. In the first case, we obtain speed limits à la Mandelstam-Tamm that are inversely proportional to the variance of the Hamiltonian driving the evolution. In the second case, we set the nonunitary dynamics to be described by the noisy operations: depolarizing channel, phase damping channel, and generalized amplitude damping channel. We provide analytical results for the two entropic measures, present numerical simulations to support our results on the speed limits, comment on the tightness of the bounds, and provide a comparison with previous QSLs. Our results may find applications in the study of quantum thermodynamics, entropic uncertainty relations, and the complexity of many-body systems.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Quantum correlations, foundations & formalism
• Quantum foundations
• Quantum information theory