Non-Markovian environments and entanglement preservation

Abstract

Using the Shabani-Lidar post-Markovian master equation, we derive non-Markovian generalizations of important quantum decohering operations on single qubits. When environmental memory effects are being taken into account, both single-qubit coherence and two-qubit entanglement may be preserved over a longer period of time, in contrast to the corresponding situations where these are totally neglected. We argue that recognizing the fact that every environment is inherently non-Markovian could be the key to the resolution of the issue of entanglement sudden death. © 2010 The American Physical Society.