Quantum-Noise–Induced Limits on Information Density in Confined Solid-State Systems

Abstract

The continuous miniaturization of solid-state systems has driven electronic materials into regimes where quantum noise and environmental coupling play a decisive role in determining physical performance. In this work, we develop an open quantum framework to investigate fundamental limits on information density in confined solid-state systems. By explicitly incorporating system environment interactions at the Hamiltonian level and describing the resulting non-unitary dynamics within the Lindblad formalism, we derive an intrinsic upper bound on the number of operationally distinguishable quantum states. Our analysis reveals that information density scaling is jointly constrained by geometric confinement and noise-induced coherence loss, leading to an apparent exponential growth only within an intermediate size regime. As system dimensions approach the nanoscale, increasing quantum noise enforces a crossover to sub-exponential, noise-limited behavior, signaling the breakdown of purely geometric scaling arguments. The results demonstrate that the observed scaling behavior arises as an emergent consequence of open quantum dynamics rather than technological optimization. Owing to its general formulation, the proposed framework is broadly applicable to a wide class of solid-state systems, providing a unified physical perspective on information-density limits imposed by quantum noise.