Contractivity properties of a quantum diffusion semigroup

Abstract

We consider a quantum generalization of the classical heat equation, and study contractivity properties of its associated semigroup. We prove a Nash inequality and a logarithmic Sobolev inequality. The former leads to an ultracontractivity result. This in turn implies that the largest eigenvalue and the purity of a state with positive Wigner function, evolving under the action of the semigroup, decrease at least inverse polynomially in time, while its entropy increases at least logarithmically in time.