Open quantum systems coupled to finite baths: A hierarchy of master equations

Abstract

An open quantum system in contact with an infinite bath approaches equilibrium, while the state of the bath remains unchanged. If the bath is finite, the open system still relaxes to equilibrium, but it induces a dynamical evolution of the bath state. In this work, we study the dynamics of open quantum systems in contact with finite baths. We obtain a hierarchy of master equations that improve their accuracy by including more dynamical information of the bath. For instance, as the least accurate but simplest description in the hierarchy we obtain the conventional Born-Markov-secular master equation. Remarkably, our framework works even if the measurements of the bath energy are imperfect, which, not only is more realistic, but also unifies the theoretical description. Also, we discuss this formalism in detail for a particular non-interacting environment where the Boltzmann temperature and the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger relation naturally arise. Finally, we apply our hierarchy of master equations to study the central spin model.

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• Non-equilibrium boundary driven quantum systems: models, methods and properties
• Effective time-dependent temperature for fermionic master equations beyond the Markov and the secular approximations
• Apparent Heating due to Imperfect Calorimetric Measurements
• Modeling the dynamics of quantum systems coupled to large dimensional baths using effective energy states
• Finite-Bath Open Quantum Systems: Exact Dynamics
• Ising model in the Rényi statistics: the finite size effects