Liouville space

July 24, 2023

Contents
1 Trace 1
1.1 Full trace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Partial trace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Partial trace in Liouville space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.1 Independent subsystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.2 Dependent subsystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1 Trace
What does the corresponding operation of the (partial) trace in Hilbert
space look like in Liouville space?
1.1 Full trace
Hilbert space trace in Liouville space.
Gyamfi Eq. 114

Tr A† B = hhA|Bii
 
(1)
and so setting A = 1 ( 1 being the identity matrix) we find
Tr [B] = hh 1 |Bii (2)

Example: trace of qubit ρ

 
ρ00 ρ01
ρ= , Tr [ρ] = ρ00 + ρ11 (3)
ρ10 ρ11

1
Then
Tr [ρ] = hh 1 |ρii (4)
with  
ρ00
 ρ01 
|ρii = f [ρ] =  
 ρ10  (5)
ρ11
and
†
1
 0 
hh 1 | = | 1 ii = f [ 1 ] = 
† †  
 0  = 1 0 0 1 (6)


1
this becomes  
ρ00
   ρ01 
1 0 0 1  ρ10  = ρ00 + ρ11
 (7)
ρ11

1.2 Partial trace

For a system of two qubits the density matrix is
 
ρ00,00 ρ00,01
ρ00,11 ρ00,10
XXXX ρ01,00 ρ01,01
ρ01,11  ρ01,10
ρ= ρk1 k2 ,b1 b2 |k1 , k2 ihb1 , b2 | = 
ρ10,00

ρ10,01
ρ10,11  ρ10,10
k1 k2 b1 b2
ρ11,00 ρ11,01
ρ11,11 ρ11,10
(8)
We find the reduced density matrix of qubit 1 by tracing out the degrees of
freedom of qubit 2, i.e. we calculate the partial trace

ρ1 = Tr2 [ρ] (9)

2
which equals
!
X XXX
hl2 | ρk1 k2 ,b1 b2 |k1 , k2 ihb1 , b2 | |l2 i
l2 k1 k2 b1
XXXXX
= ρk1 k2 ,b1 b2 |k1 ihb1 | hl2 |k2 i hb2 |l2 i (10)
l2 k1 k2 b1 b2

Notice from this that the bra hl2 | implicitly means 11 ⊗ hl2 | and the ket |l2 i
implicitly means 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i, where the subscript with the identity indicates
the subspace it acts in. Explicitly we have
!
1 1 ⊗ hl2 | ρk1 k2 ,b1 b2 |k1 , k2 ihb1 , b2 | 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i
X XXXX
(11)
l2 k1 k2 b1 b2

yielding the same result. In conclusion we can write the partial trace over
the degrees of freedom in subspace 2 as

( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) ρ ( 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i)
X X
Tr2 [ρ] = hl2 |ρ|l2 i = (12)
l2 l2

with the ‘partial’ ket’s and bra’s explicitly

 
    1 0
1 0 1 0 0
1 1 ⊗ |0i = 0 1
⊗
0
=
0 1
 (13)
0 0
 
    0 0
1 0 0 1 0
1 1 ⊗ |1i = 0 1
⊗
1
=
0 0
 (14)
0 1
and    
1 0 1 0 0 0
1 1 ⊗ h0| = 0 1 ⊗ 1 0 = 0 0 1 0
 
(15)
   
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 1 ⊗ h1| = 0 1 ⊗ 0 1 = 0 0 0 1
 
(16)

3
such that partial trace is
  
  ρ00,00 ρ00,01 ρ00,10 ρ00,11 1 0
1 0 0 0  ρ01,00 ρ01,01 ρ01,10 ρ01,11 

0 0

0 0 1 0 ρ10,00 ρ10,01 ρ10,10 ρ10,11  0 1
ρ11,00 ρ11,01 ρ11,10 ρ11,11 0 0
  
  ρ00,00 ρ00,01 ρ00,10 ρ00,11 0 0
0 1 0 0 
ρ01,00 ρ01,01 ρ01,10 ρ01,11  1 0
+   (17)
0 0 0 1 ρ10,00 ρ10,01 ρ10,10 ρ10,11  0 0
ρ11,00 ρ11,01 ρ11,10 ρ11,11 0 1
which equals
     
ρ00,00 ρ00,01 ρ ρ01,11 ρ + ρ01,01 ρ00,01 + ρ01,11
+ 01,01 = 00,00
ρ10,00 ρ10,10 ρ11,01 ρ11,11 ρ10,00 + ρ11,01 ρ10,10 + ρ11,11
(18)
which indeed is the reduced density matrix of qubit 1. Thus, tracing out
the degrees of freedom of qubit 2 from some operator A, corresponds in fact
to the action of a (partial?) superoperator on A as
( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) A ( 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i)
X
Tr2 [A] = (19)
l2

which becomes more clear in Liouville space, where we have

" #
( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) A ( 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i)
X
f [Tr2 [A]] = f
l2

f [( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) A ( 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i)] (20)

X
=
l2

using the triple superket identity

|ABCii = (A ⊗ C | ) |Bii (21)
this becomes
" # " #
( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) ⊗ ( 1 1 ⊗ |l2 i) |Aii = ( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) ⊗ ( 1 1 ⊗ hl2 |) |Aii
∗
X |
X

l2 l2
(22)

4
Thus in Liouville space, tracing out the degrees of freedom of qubit 2 is
done by the operator

hh 1 2 | = ( 1 1 ⊗ hk|) ⊗ 1 1 ⊗ hk|
∗

X
(23)

where we moved the complex conjugate inside the brackets on the bra hk|
only as it doesn’t affect the identity. Thus in Liouville space we ‘trace out’
qubit two in the following way

|ρ1 ii = hh 1 2 |ρii (24)

with hh 1 2 | given by Eq. 23.

1.3 Partial trace in Liouville space
1.3.1 Independent subsystems
Two qubits, qubit 1 driven by an X-gate with driving strength Ω, qubit 2
left alone. Qubits do not interact. Thus (interaction picture, rwa)

Ω
H= X1 1 2 (25)
2
1. Assume the qubit are initially separable, i.e. ρ(0) = ρ1 (0) ⊗ ρ2 (0).
As no interactions between the qubits exist we are able to solve for
the qubits evolutions separately, using Hamiltonian H1 = Ω2 X for
qubit 1 and H2 = 1 for qubit 2. Let the solutions be ρ1 (t) and ρ2 (t)
respectively. We can then put the the two-qubit density matrix back
together by taking their kronecker product

ρ(t) = ρ1 (t) ⊗ ρ2 (t) (26)

But we should also be able to solve the two-qubit system as a whole

and find the same result. Thus, also then we should that if the qubits
start out separable, they should remain so for all times t. Show this
explicitly.
2. Show that if the qubits are initially entangled, they remain entangled.

5
 3. If the qubits are initially entangled, you can still control one qubit,
e.g. by a laser, without affecting the other. Thus, when the qubits are
entangled and it doesn’t make sense to think of the state of one qubit
without taking the other in account. In fact, it only makes sense to
think of the state of the two together making up one total state where
one is not distinguishable from the other. Still one can control the
qubits separately, affecting only one and not the other. This makes
sense in experiments when the qubits can be separated in space and
one can shine with a laser on one.

such that the time evolution is described by

Ω
ρ̇ = −ı [H, ρ] = −ı [X1 1 2 , ρ] (27)
2
which equals  
0 0 ρ00,10 ρ00,11
 0 0 ρ01,10 ρ01,11 
− ıΩ 
ρ10,00
 (28)
ρ10,01 0 0 
ρ11,00 ρ11,01 −0 0
Qubits don’t interact, evolutions are separate, we don’t lose information by
tracing out either qubit
 
0 −ıΩ (ρ00,10 + ρ01,11 )
ρ̇1 = Tr2 [ρ̇] = and ρ̇2 = Tr1 [ρ̇]
ıΩ (ρ10,00 − ρ11,01 ) 0
(29)
Indeed, ρ̇1 only depends on elements of ρ1 itself
   
0 −ıΩ (ρ00,10 + ρ01,11 ) 0 −ıΩρ1,01
= (30)
ıΩ (ρ10,00 − ρ11,01 ) 0 ıΩρ1,10 0

If qubits are separable we have


    ρ1,00 ρ2,00 ρ1,00 ρ2,01 ρ1,01 ρ2,0
ρ ρ1,01 ρ ρ2,01 ρ1,00 ρ2,10 ρ1,00 ρ2,11 ρ1,01 ρ2,1
ρ = ρ1 ⊗ρ2 = 1,00 ⊗ 2,00 =
ρ1,10 ρ1,11 ρ2,10 ρ2,11 ρ1,10 ρ2,00 ρ1,10 ρ2,01 ρ1,11 ρ2,0
ρ1,10 ρ2,10 ρ1,10 ρ2,11 ρ1,11 ρ2,1
(31)

6
Of course, the completely general form of a two-qubit density matrix is
 
ρ00,00 ρ00,01 ρ00,10 ρ00,11
ρ01,00 ρ01,01 ρ01,10 ρ01,11 
ρ= ρ10,00 ρ10,01
 (32)
ρ10,10 ρ10,11 
ρ11,00 ρ11,01 ρ11,10 ρ11,11

such that for separable qubits we have

ρkl,mn = ρ1,km ρ2,ln (33)

and tracing out, for example, the second qubit gives

   
ρ1,00 (ρ2,00 + ρ2,11 ) ρ1,01 (ρ2,00 + ρ2,11 ) ρ ρ1,01
= 1,00 (34)
ρ1,10 (ρ2,00 + ρ2,11 ) ρ1,11 (ρ2,00 + ρ2,11 ) ρ1,10 ρ1,11

The qubits evolve independently, so if they start out separate, they’ll

remain separate and to get the evolution of one qubit we can trace out the
other without losing information. If however the qubits start out entangled,
they can independently evolve but by tracing out the qubits we do lose
information (the (initial) correlations).
1.3.2 Dependent subsystems
Consider a two-qubit system subject to an entangling gate described by the
Hamiltonian
Ω
H = ZX (35)
2
such that the time evolution is described by
Ω
ρ̇ = −ı [H, ρ] = −ı [ZX, ρ] (36)
2
which equals
 
−ρ00,01 + ρ01,00 −ρ00,00 + ρ01,01 ρ00,11 + ρ01,10 ρ00,10 + ρ01,11
Ω ρ00,00 − ρ01,01 ρ00,01 − ρ01,00 ρ00,10 + ρ01,11 ρ00,11 + ρ01,10 
−ı  
2 −ρ10,01 − ρ11,00 −ρ10,00 − ρ11,01 ρ10,11 − ρ11,10 ρ10,10 − ρ11,11 
−ρ10,00 − ρ11,01 −ρ10,01 − ρ11,00 −ρ10,10 + ρ11,11 −ρ10,11 + ρ11,10
(37)

7
Tracing out qubit 2 gives
 
0 ρ00,11 + ρ01,10
ρ̇1 = Tr2 [ρ̇] = −ıΩ (38)
ρ10,01 + ρ11,00 0

Notice that this shows the qubits become entangled as we can not write this
as
ρ̇1 = Lρ1 (39)
as the right-hand side is not linear in the elements of ρ1
   
ρ1,00 ρ1,01 ρ00,00 + ρ01,01 ρ00,01 + ρ01,11
ρ1 = = (40)
ρ1,10 ρ1,11 ρ10,00 + ρ11,01 ρ10,10 + ρ11,11

However, we still would like to have reduced equations of the form of Eq.
above. Reduced equations in Liouville space are

|ρ̇1 ii = hh 1 2 |L|ρii (41)

Although correct, this still depends on all elements of the full two-qubit
density matrix. In particular it depends on the entanglement between the
qubits. We would like to have reduced equations of the form as Eq. above
but now in Liouville space

|ρ̇1 ii = L1 |ρ1 ii (42)

where L1 is some reduced version of L with the degrees of freedom of qubit
2 traced out.
|ρ̇1 ii = hh 1 2 |L|?ii hh 1 2 |ρii (43)
More generally, how do we trace out the degrees of freedom of the second
qubit from Liouvillian L? It turns out that

L1 6= hh 1 2 |L| 1 2 ii (44)

but that
1
L1 = hh 1 2 |L| 1 2 ii (45)
2

8
More generally it seems that for some bipartite system with subsystems A
and B
1
1A = hh 1 B | 1 B ii (46)
dA
but what is the interpretation of
1
| 1 B ii hh 1 B | ? (47)
dA
Also it seems that the following gives what we want
 
1
|ρ̇1 ii = hh 1 2 | L | 1 2 ii hh 1 2 |ρii (48)
d

but is this general? Maybe following page gives information about this:
https://qubit.guide/7.9-channel-state-duality.html