We study general “normally” (Gaussian) distributed random unitary
transformations. These distributions can be defined in terms of a diffusive random
walk in the respective group manifold. On the one hand, a Gaussian distribution
induces a unital quantum channel, which we will call “normal”. On the other
hand, the diffusive random walk defines a unital quantum process, generated by a
Lindblad master equation. In the single qubit case, we show different distributions
may induce the same quantum channel.
In the case of two qubits, we study normal quantum channels, induced by
Gaussian distributions in SU(2)⊗SU(2). They provide an appropriate framework
for modeling quantum errors with classical correlations. In contrast to correlated
Pauli errors, for instance, they conserve their Markovianity, and they lead to very
different results in error correcting codes. This is illustrated with an application
to entanglement distillation.