$\newcommand{\Ket}[1]{\left|#1\right>}$ I would like to know if there is a systematic way of finding a set of Kraus operators $E_k$ for a quantum channel $\varepsilon$ defined by its action on a density matrix $\rho$ using these properties:
$\varepsilon(\rho) = \sum_{k}E_k\rho E_k ^{\dagger}$
$\sum_{k}E_k^{\dagger} E_k = \mathbb{1}$
I feel like you can "educated" guess the answer but I would like to know if there is a more formal method.
To be more specific, there are 2 different input possibilities for the problem: the first is when the channel $\varepsilon$ is defined by its action on a density matrix $\rho$, and the second is when it is defined by its action on kets.
Let me give an example for both these cases:
Action on $\rho$: find the Kraus operators for the dephasing channel: $\rho \rightarrow \rho ' = (1-p)\rho + p\, diag(\rho_{00},\rho_{01})$
Action on kets: find the Kraus operators for the amplitude damping channel, defined by the action: $\Ket{00} \rightarrow \Ket{00}$, $\Ket{10} \rightarrow \sqrt{1-p}\Ket{10} + \sqrt{p}\Ket{01}$
I cannot figure out a method for any of these types of cases even though I know a possibility of Kraus operators for both of these cases. For the dephasing channel:
$E_0 = \sqrt{1-p/2}\mathbb{1}$ and $E_1 = \sqrt{p/2}\sigma_z$
and for the amplitude damping channel:
$E_0 = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & \sqrt{1-p} \end{pmatrix} \quad E_1= \begin{pmatrix} 0 & \sqrt{p} \\ 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix}$