The time evolution of the trace distance between quantum states of a qubit which is placed under the influence of stochastic dephasing is investigated within the framework of the stochastic Liouville equation. When stochastic dephasing is subject to the homogeneous Gauss-Markov process, the trace distance is exactly calculated in the presence of the initial correlation between the qubit and the stochastic process, where the stochastic process is inevitably a nonstationary process. It is found that even the initial correlation with the classical environment can make the trace distance greater than the initial value if stochastic dephasing causes the slow modulation of the qubit.

• Received 2 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.042115