Dissipative phase transitions in quantum reservoir computing

Abstract

Enhanced performance of quantum reservoir computing has been associated with dynamical phase transitions, but whether this connection extends to dissipative systems and which relaxation mechanisms underlie it remain insufficiently understood. We systematically compare driven-dissipative Kerr reservoirs across first-order and continuous dissipative phase transitions and find enhanced memory and nonlinear processing near both phase boundaries. Although the closure of the Liouvillian gap marks the transitions in the thermodynamic limit, computational performance does not generally follow gap suppression. An exact post-training Liouvillian-mode decomposition quantitatively attributes the trained memory to intrinsic relaxation channels. It shows that the gap mode contributes only weakly, while finite-rate modes and their cross-contributions dominate the enhanced capacity. These results go beyond phenomenological correlations by directly linking memory capacity to the intrinsic Liouvillian relaxation spectrum. Moreover, these findings provide a physical basis for designing dissipative quantum reservoirs and testing memory-enhancement mechanisms in experimentally accessible Kerr platforms.