We define a perturbative approximation for the solution of Lindblad master equations with time-dependent generators that satisfies the fundamental property of complete positivity, as essential for quantum simulations and optimal control. With explicit examples we show that ensuring this property substantially improves the accuracy of the perturbative approximation.
We define a perturbative approximation for the solution of Lindblad master equations with time-dependent generators that satisfies the fundamental property of complete positivity, as essential for quantum simulations and optimal control. With explicit examples we show that ensuring this property substantially improves the accuracy of the perturbative approximation.
In this thesis, we develop a perturbative approximation for the solution of Lindblad master equations with time-dependent generators that satisfies the fundamental property of complete positivity, as essential for quantum simulations and optimal control of open quantum systems. By probing our method to several explicit examples we show that ensuring this property not only improves the accuracy of the perturbative approximation substantially, but also it permits to read off the effective dissipative processes . Subsequently, we design optimal entangling quantum gates for trapped ions mediated by a bus mode which is subject to decoherence. We show that suitably designed polychromatic control pulses, help to suppress the qubit-phonon entanglement substantially while maintaining the mediated interaction. This leads to a considerable reduction in the gate infidelity, in particular, for multi-qubit gates this yields a significant improvement in the gate performance.
A finite-dimensional quantum system is coupled to a bath of oscillators in thermal equilibrium at temperature T>0 . We show that for fixed, small values of the coupling constant λ , the true reduced dynamics of the system is approximated by the completely positive, trace preserving Markovian semigroup generated by the Davies-Lindblad generator. The difference between the true and the Markovian dynamics is O(|λ|1/4) for all times, meaning that the solution of the Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad master equation is approximating the true dynamics to accuracy O(|λ|1/4) for all times. Our method is based on a recently obtained expansion of the full system-bath propagator. It applies to reservoirs with correlation functions decaying in time as 1/t4 or faster, which is a significant improvement relative to the previously required exponential decay.
We develop a Markovian master equation in the Lindblad form that enables the efficient study of a wide range of open quantum many-body systems that would be inaccessible with existing methods. The validity of the master equation is based entirely on properties of the bath and the system-bath coupling, without any requirements on the level structure within the system itself. The master equation is derived using a Markov approximation that is distinct from that used in earlier approaches. We provide a rigorous bound for the error induced by this Markov approximation; the error is controlled by a dimensionless combination of intrinsic correlation and relaxation timescales of the bath. Our master equation is accurate on the same level of approximation as the Bloch-Redfield equation. In contrast to the Bloch-Redfield approach, our approach ensures preservation of the positivity of the density matrix. As a result, our method is robust, and can be solved efficiently using stochastic evolution of pure states (rather than density matrices). We discuss how our method can be applied to static or driven quantum many-body systems, and illustrate its power through numerical simulation of a spin chain that would be challenging to treat by existing methods.
The perturbative master equation (Bloch–Redfield) is used extensively to study dissipative quantum mechanics—particularly for qubits—despite the 25-year-old criticism that it violates positivity (generating negative probabilities). We take an arbitrary system coupled to an environment containing many degrees-of-freedom and cast its perturbative master equation (derived from a perturbative treatment of Nakajima–Zwanzig or Schoeller–Schön equations) in the form of a Lindblad master equation. We find that the equation's parameters are time dependent . This time dependence is rarely accounted for and invalidates Lindblad's dynamical semigroup analysis. We analyse one such Bloch–Redfield master equation (for a two-level system coupled to an environment with a short but non-vanishing memory time), which apparently violates positivity. We analytically show that, once the time dependence of the parameters is accounted for, positivity is preserved.
We investigate the exact solution, perturbation theory and master equation of open system dynamics based on our serial studies on quantum mechanics in general quantum systems [An Min Wang, quant-ph/0611216 and quant-ph/0611217]. In a system-environment separated representation, a general and explicit solution of open system dynamics is obtained, and it is an exact solution since it includes all order approximations of perturbation. In terms of the cut-off approximation of perturbation and our improved scheme of perturbation theory, the improved form of the perturbed solution of open systems absorbing the partial contributions from the high order even all order approximations is deduced. Moreover, only under the factorizing initial condition, the exact master equation including all order approximations is proposed. Correspondingly, the perturbed master equation and its improved form different from the existed master equation are given. In special, the Redfield master equation is derived out without using Born-Markov approximation. The solution of open system dynamics in the Milburn model is also gained. As examples, Zurek model of two-state open system and its extension with two transverse fields are studied.
Quantum master equations are an invaluable and highly successful tool for the approximate, yet accurate, description of undriven open quantum systems weakly coupled to their environment. In contrast, results on the description of the equally important case of driven open quantum systems using quantum master equations remain scarce. Existing approaches typically impose restrictions on the driving protocol, including, for instance, Floquet master equations for periodic driving and adiabatic master equations for slow driving. However, no generally accepted formulation for arbitrary driving has yet been established. A promising candidate from which all existing approaches can be derived by approximations based on protocol constraints is the driven Redfield master equation. Strikingly, it has received very little attention so far. A main reason is that, in analogy to its undriven counterpart, the driven Redfield master equation notoriously violates complete positivity. In the undriven case, this problem can be successfully addressed using the rotating wave approximation (RWA). For approaches derived from the driven Redfield master equation for specific protocols, such as Floquet master equations and adiabatic master equations, a generalized form of the RWA can still be applied. However, a full generalization directly applicable to the driven Redfield master equation under arbitrary driving has not yet been developed. To address this issue, we propose a straightforward and natural generalization of the RWA based on the version of the RWA used for adiabatic master equations. We then apply the driven Redfield master equation to the paradigmatic, exactly solvable model of a driven quantum harmonic oscillator coupled to a bosonic bath and benchmark it against the exact solution. In particular, we compare the original driven Redfield master equation without an RWA to its generalized RWA version. We find that the driven Redfield master equation without an RWA exhibits excellent agreement with the exact solution across all driving speeds, while the violation of complete positivity shows no notable effect. By contrast, the RWA-based version of the driven Redfield master equation fails to reproduce the dynamics accurately beyond slow driving at short times. Additionally, we analyze known adiabatic master equations, both without and with an RWA. Remarkably, the non-RWA versions agree with the exact dynamics far beyond the strictly adiabatic regime, while the RWA-based versions already show noticeable deviations even for slow driving, contrasting previous observations in the literature. Taken together, these results indicate that the driven Redfield master equation and adiabatic master equations without RWA have been significantly underestimated in their practical usefulness, whereas RWA-based approaches in driven settings may have been overestimated. This strongly suggests that future work should focus on alternative approximation methods applied to the driven Redfield master equation that preserve its high numerical accuracy while restoring complete positivity.