Indirect controllability and indirect observability of quantum mechanical systems

In many experiments, a target quantum mechanical system is controlled and-or measured indirectly using an auxiliary quantum system. In the case of control, this means that the control action only affects the auxiliary system while the evolution of the target system is affected indirectly through the interaction with the auxiliary system. In the case of measurement, only the state of the auxiliary system can be measured, providing information on the initial state of the target system. Indirect controllability is the property of the target system of being driven between two arbitrary states while indirect observability refers to the possibility of extracting all the information on the state of the target system by measuring the auxiliary system. This paper has three main goals. First, we summarize recent notions and results introduced by us on the study of indirect controllability. Then, we present some new technical results on indirect controllability. In particular, we present a counterexample to the converse of a criterion for indirect controllability, which shows that the Lie algebraic condition introduced in this criterion is necessary but not sufficient for indirect controllability. This gives an open problem which is how to strengthen this condition to obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for indirect controllability. Lastly, we present a parallel treatment of indirect observability, give the relevant notions and definitions and relate the properties of indirect controllability and observability. Our final result says that strong notions of indirect controllability and observability are equivalent properties to complete controllability of the system. We discuss examples of physical systems which are controlled and-or measured indirectly. The research is motivated by experimental schemes of current interest