Bures and Sjoqvist metrics over thermal state manifolds for spin qubits and superconducting flux qubits

The interplay among differential geometry, statistical physics, and quantum information science has been increasingly gaining theoretical interest in recent years. In this paper, we present an explicit analysis of the Bures and Sjoqvist metrics over the manifolds of thermal states for specific spin qubit and the superconducting flux qubit Hamiltonian models. While the two metrics equally reduce to the Fubini-Study metric in the asymptotic limiting case of the inverse temperature approaching infinity for both Hamiltonian models, we observe that the two metrics are generally different when departing from the zero-temperature limit. In particular, we discuss this discrepancy in the case of the superconducting flux Hamiltonian model. We conclude the two metrics differ in the presence of a nonclassical behavior specified by the noncommutativity of neighboring mixed quantum states. Such a noncommutativity, in turn, is quantified by the two metrics in different manners. Finally, we briefly discuss possible observable consequences of this discrepancy between the two metrics when using them to predict critical and/or complex behavior of physical systems of interest in quantum information science.

Automated summary

In recent years, the interplay among differential geometry, statistical physics, and quantum information science has gained theoretical interest. This paper explicitly analyzes the Bures and Sjoqvist metrics over manifolds of thermal states for specific spin qubit and superconducting flux qubit Hamiltonian models. The two metrics are generally different when departing from the zero-temperature limit, and this discrepancy is discussed in the case of the superconducting flux Hamiltonian model. The presence of nonclassical behavior, quantified by the two metrics in different manners, leads to the difference between the two metrics.