We address the question of the existence of quantum channels that are divisible in two quantum channels but not in three or, more generally, channels divisible in $n$ but not in $n+1$ parts. We show that for the qubit those channels do not exist, whereas for general finite-dimensional quantum channels the same holds at least for full Kraus rank channels. To prove these results, we introduce a novel decomposition of quantum channels which separates them into a boundary and Markovian part, and it holds for any finite dimension. Additionally, the introduced decomposition amounts to the well-known connection between divisibility classes and implementation types of quantum dynamical maps and can be used to implement quantum channels using smaller quantum registers.

• Received 28 March 2022
• Revised 8 September 2022
• Accepted 20 January 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.080801