Coherence generation with Hamiltonians

Abstract

We explore methods to generate quantum coherence through unitary evolutions, by introducing and studying the coherence generating capacity of Hamiltonians. This quantity is defined as the maximum derivative of coherence that can be achieved by a Hamiltonian. By adopting the relative entropy of coherence as our figure of merit, we evaluate the maximal coherence generating capacity with the constraint of a bounded Hilbert-Schmidt norm for the Hamiltonian. Our investigation yields closed-form expressions for both Hamiltonians and quantum states that induce the maximal derivative of coherence under these conditions. Specifically, for qubit systems, we solve this problem comprehensively for any given Hamiltonian, identifying the quantum states that lead to the largest coherence derivative induced by the Hamiltonian. Our investigation enables a precise identification of conditions under which quantum coherence is optimally enhanced, offering valuable insights for the manipulation and control of quantum coherence in quantum systems.