QUROPE Quantum Information Processing and Communication in Europe

We derive rigorous truncation-error bounds for the spin-boson model and its generalizations to arbitrary quantum systems interacting with bosonic baths. For the numerical simulation of such baths, the truncation of both the number of modes and the local Hilbert-space dimensions is necessary. We derive superexponential Lieb-Robinson-type bounds on the error when restricting the bath to finitely many modes and show how the error introduced by truncating the local Hilbert spaces may be efficiently monitored numerically.

In quantum optimal control theory the success of an optimization algorithm is highly influenced by how the figure of merit to be optimized behaves as a function of the control field, i.e., by the control landscape. Constraints on the control field introduce local minima in the landscape—false traps—which might prevent an efficient solution of the optimal control problem. Rabitz et al. [Science 303, 1998 (2004)] showed that local minima occur only rarely for unconstrained optimization.