We establish an information-theoretic approach for quantitatively characterizing the non-Markovianity of open quantum processes. Here, the quantum Fisher information (QFI) flow provides a measure to statistically distinguish Markovian and non-Markovian processes. A basic relation between the QFI flow and non-Markovianity is unveiled for quantum dynamics of open systems. For a class of time-local master equations, the exactly analytic solution shows that for each fixed time the QFI flow is decomposed into additive subflows according to different dissipative channels.

• Received 23 December 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.82.042103