Derivation of the quantum-optical master equation based on coarse-graining of time

Abstract

This is a derivation of the quantum-optical master equation using coarse-graining of time, which brings new insights into a decades old technique. My derivation is quite similar to derivations using quantum stochastic methods or Kraus operators, though I go through the derivation without explicitly invoking any of these concepts, so it may be easier to follow as an introduction. I also address the major pitfall of nearly all microscopic derivations of the master equation, namely that they assume the state of the system and bath factorize for all times. I show why this assumption actually holds for spontaneous emission, and coincidentally turns out to be correct.

References in corpus (6)

• Chiral Quantum Optics
• Microwave photonics with superconducting quantum circuits
• Qubit models of weak continuous measurements
• Non-Markovianity through flow of information between a system and an environment
• Scattering into one-dimensional waveguides from a coherently-driven quantum-optical system
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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Quantum collision models: open system dynamics from repeated interactions
• Collisional picture of quantum optics with giant emitters
• Scattering into one-dimensional waveguides from a coherently-driven quantum-optical system
• Aspects of Two-photon Absorption of Squeezed Light: the CW limit
• Degenerate Squeezing in Waveguides: A Unified Theoretical Approach
• Quantum non-Markovian collision models from colored-noise baths
• Simulating quantum collision models with Hamiltonian simulations using early fault-tolerant quantum computers