Quantum map approach to entanglement transfer and generation in spin chains

Abstract

Quantum information processing protocols are efficiently implemented on spin-1/2 networks. A quantum communication protocol generally involves a certain number of parties having local access to a subset of a larger system, whose intrinsic dynamics are exploited in order to perform a specific task. In this chapter, we address such a scenario with the quantum dynamical map formalism, where the intended protocol is cast into the form of a map acting on the local subset of spins. We reformulate widely investigated protocols, such as one-qubit quantum state transfer and two-qubit entanglement distribution, with the quantum map formalism and demonstrate its usefulness in exploring less investigated protocols such as multiqubit entanglement generation.