Quantum oscillations in the spin-boson model: reduced visibility from non-Markovian effects and initial entanglement

The loss of coherence of quantum oscillations is of fundamental interest as well as of practical importance in quantum computing. In solid-state experiments the oscillations show, next to the familiar exponential decay on time scales T-1/2, an overall loss of amplitude. We solve the spin-boson model for a large class of initial conditions without the Markov approximation at the pure dephasing point. It is shown that a loss of visibility occurs in the form of a fast initial drop for factorized initial conditions and an overall reduction for entangled initial conditions. This loss of amplitude is distinct from T-2-decoherence with the difference being most drastic for environments with real or pseudo-gaps. This result is explained by bandwidth effects in quantum noise as well as in terms of higher order phase-breaking processes. For several experiments, such gapped environments are identified. We confirm that this physics is valid beyond the pure dephasing point.