A Knob for Markovianity

Abstract

We study the Markovianity of a composite system and its subsystems. We show how the dissipative nature of a subsystem's dynamics can be modified without having to change properties of the composite system environment. By preparing different system initial states or dynamically manipulating the subsystem coupling, we find that it is possible to induce a transition from Markov to non-Markov behavior, and vice versa.