Non-Markovian thermal reservoirs for autonomous entanglement distribution
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AbstractWe describe a novel scheme for the generation of stationary entanglement between two separated qubits that are driven by a purely thermal photon source. While in this scenario the qubits remain in a separable state at all times when the source is broadband, i.e. Markovian, the qubits relax into an entangled steady state once the bandwidth of the thermal source is sufficiently reduced. We explain this phenomenon by the appearance of a quasiadiabatic dark state and identify the most relevant nonadiabatic corrections that eventually lead to a breakdown of the entangled state, once the temperature is too high. This effect demonstrates how the non-Markovianity of an otherwise incoherent reservoir can be harnessed for quantum communication applications in optical, microwave, and phononic networks. As two specific examples, we discuss the use of filtered room-temperature noise as a passive resource for entangling distant superconducting qubits in a cryogenic quantum link or solid-state spin qubits in a phononic quantum channel.Featured image: Sketch of a thermally driven quantum network, where two remote qubits are coupled via a unidirectional quantum channel driven by the output of a thermal filter cavity.Popular summary Entanglement — the defining quantum correlation between distant particles — is a key resource for quantum networks, but generating it typically requires carefully engineered coherent control and low-noise conditions. Thermal noise, the random fluctuations present in any warm environment, is usually considered the enemy: it destroys quantum coherences and prevents the formation of entangled states. This work turns that intuition on its head. We show that two distant qubits connected by a quantum channel and driven by a purely thermal photon source — such as the filtered Johnson-Nyquist noise of a room-temperature resistor — can spontaneously relax into a highly entangled steady state, without any coherent driving or feedback. The key ingredient is reducing the bandwidth of the thermal source sufficiently. When the source is broadband, the qubits remain separable, as one would expect. But when the bandwidth is narrow enough, the system enters a non-Markovian regime in which the qubits adiabatically track an entangled dark state that is largely insensitive to the phase and amplitude fluctuations of the thermal field. We develop a complete theoretical framework to describe this mechanism across a wide range of temperatures and bandwidths, and show that the effect is robust against realistic imperfections. As specific applications, we analyze superconducting qubits in a cryogenic microwave link and spin qubits in a phononic crystal waveguide, finding that near-maximal entanglement is achievable with current technology using only room-temperature noise as the resource.► BibTeX data@article{Agusti2026nonmarkovianthermal, doi = {10.22331/q-2026-04-15-2066}, url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-04-15-2066}, title = {Non-{M}arkovian thermal reservoirs for autonomous entanglement distribution}, author = {Agust{\'{i}}, Joan and Schneider, Christian M. F. and Fedorov, Kirill G. and Filipp, Stefan and Rabl, Peter}, journal = {{Quantum}}, issn = {2521-327X}, publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}}, volume = {10}, pages = {2066}, month = apr, year = {2026} }► References [1] J. I. Cirac, P. Zoller, H. J. Kimble, and H. Mabuchi, Quantum state transfer and entanglement distribution among distant nodes in a quantum network, Phys. Rev. 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Could not fetch ADS cited-by data during last attempt 2026-04-15 06:54:40: No response from ADS or unable to decode the received json data when getting the list of citing works.This Paper is published in Quantum under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Copyright remains with the original copyright holders such as the authors or their institutions. AbstractWe describe a novel scheme for the generation of stationary entanglement between two separated qubits that are driven by a purely thermal photon source. While in this scenario the qubits remain in a separable state at all times when the source is broadband, i.e. Markovian, the qubits relax into an entangled steady state once the bandwidth of the thermal source is sufficiently reduced. We explain this phenomenon by the appearance of a quasiadiabatic dark state and identify the most relevant nonadiabatic corrections that eventually lead to a breakdown of the entangled state, once the temperature is too high. This effect demonstrates how the non-Markovianity of an otherwise incoherent reservoir can be harnessed for quantum communication applications in optical, microwave, and phononic networks. As two specific examples, we discuss the use of filtered room-temperature noise as a passive resource for entangling distant superconducting qubits in a cryogenic quantum link or solid-state spin qubits in a phononic quantum channel.Featured image: Sketch of a thermally driven quantum network, where two remote qubits are coupled via a unidirectional quantum channel driven by the output of a thermal filter cavity.Popular summary Entanglement — the defining quantum correlation between distant particles — is a key resource for quantum networks, but generating it typically requires carefully engineered coherent control and low-noise conditions. Thermal noise, the random fluctuations present in any warm environment, is usually considered the enemy: it destroys quantum coherences and prevents the formation of entangled states. This work turns that intuition on its head. We show that two distant qubits connected by a quantum channel and driven by a purely thermal photon source — such as the filtered Johnson-Nyquist noise of a room-temperature resistor — can spontaneously relax into a highly entangled steady state, without any coherent driving or feedback. The key ingredient is reducing the bandwidth of the thermal source sufficiently. When the source is broadband, the qubits remain separable, as one would expect. But when the bandwidth is narrow enough, the system enters a non-Markovian regime in which the qubits adiabatically track an entangled dark state that is largely insensitive to the phase and amplitude fluctuations of the thermal field. We develop a complete theoretical framework to describe this mechanism across a wide range of temperatures and bandwidths, and show that the effect is robust against realistic imperfections. As specific applications, we analyze superconducting qubits in a cryogenic microwave link and spin qubits in a phononic crystal waveguide, finding that near-maximal entanglement is achievable with current technology using only room-temperature noise as the resource.► BibTeX data@article{Agusti2026nonmarkovianthermal, doi = {10.22331/q-2026-04-15-2066}, url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-04-15-2066}, title = {Non-{M}arkovian thermal reservoirs for autonomous entanglement distribution}, author = {Agust{\'{i}}, Joan and Schneider, Christian M. F. and Fedorov, Kirill G. and Filipp, Stefan and Rabl, Peter}, journal = {{Quantum}}, issn = {2521-327X}, publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}}, volume = {10}, pages = {2066}, month = apr, year = {2026} }► References [1] J. I. Cirac, P. Zoller, H. J. Kimble, and H. Mabuchi, Quantum state transfer and entanglement distribution among distant nodes in a quantum network, Phys. Rev. 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