One longstanding difficult problem in quantum dissipative dynamics is to solve the spin-boson model in a non-Markovian regime where a tractable systematic master equation does not exist. The spin-boson model is particularly important due to its crucial applications in quantum noise control and manipulation as well as its central role in developing quantum theories of open systems. Here we solve this important model by developing a non-Markovian quantum Langevin approach. By projecting the quantum Langevin equation onto the coherent states of the bath, we can derive a set of non-Markovian quantum Bloch equations containing no explicit noise variables. This special feature offers a tremendous advantage over the existing stochastic Schr\"odinger equations in numerical simulations. The physical significance and generality of our approach are briefly discussed.
One longstanding difficult problem in quantum dissipative dynamics is to solve the spin-boson model in a non-Markovian regime where a tractable systematic master equation does not exist. The spin-boson model is particularly important due to its crucial applications in quantum noise control and manipulation as well as its central role in developing quantum theories of open systems. Here we solve this important model by developing a non-Markovian quantum Langevin approach. By projecting the quantum Langevin equation onto the coherent states of the bath, we can derive a set of non-Markovian quantum Bloch equations containing no explicit noise variables. This special feature offers a tremendous advantage over the existing stochastic Schr"odinger equations in numerical simulations. The physical significance and generality of our approach are briefly discussed.
We develop a systematic and efficient approach for numerically solving the non-Markovian quantum state diffusion equation for an open quantum system that can be strongly coupled to an environment. As an important application, we consider a real-time simulation of a spin-boson model in a strong-coupling regime that is difficult to deal with using conventional methods. We show that the non-Markovian stochastic Schr\"odinger equation can be efficiently implemented as a real-time simulation for this model, so as to give an accurate description of spin-boson dynamics beyond the rotating-wave approximation.
We develop a systematic and efficient approach for numerically solving the non-Markovian quantum state diffusion equations for open quantum systems coupled to an environment up to arbitrary orders of noises or coupling strengths. As an important application, we consider a real-time simulation of a spin-boson model in a strong coupling regime that is difficult to deal with using conventional methods. We show that the non-Markovian stochastic Schrodinger equation can be efficiently implemented as a real--time simulation for this model, so as to give an accurate description of spin-boson dynamics beyond the rotating-wave approximation.
The spin-boson model, describing a two-level system coupled to a bosonic bath, is extensively studied as a paradigmatic dissipative quantum system, exhibiting rich dynamical behavior and even a localization transition in the strong coupling regime. Here, we additionally consider dephasing as a source of Markovian dissipation on top of the non-Markovian dynamics due to an Ohmic bath, and investigate the dynamics of the spin. We show that the characteristic frequency of the spin dynamics, while strongly renormalized by the bosonic bath, changes in a simple fashion (or does not change at all) with dephasing. To obtain these results, we develop an exact nonperturbative method known as the stochastic Schr\"odinger equation, mimicking the Ohmic bath via a stochastic magnetic field combined with the Lindblad quantum master equation due to dephasing, which allows us to numerically compute the dynamics. Furthermore, we derive weak-coupling analytic results utilizing the well-known noninteracting blip approximation. Our findings are relevant to quantum simulation of the spin-boson model in the regime of strong coupling in trapped ions and circuit QED architectures among others.
Phase-space methods are powerful tools for the treatment of Markovian open quantum systems: they map the reduced dynamics of a system S, in interaction with an environment E, exactly onto Langevin equations for c-number stochastic variables, as opposed to Heisenberg-Langevin equations for operators. Langevin equations provide analytical insight in key regimes and excel at handling strong nonlinearities and couplings, where other methods often falter. Extending phase-space methods to non-Markovian dynamics, however, has remained a long-standing challenge. Here we address this gap by applying phase-space representations to the full S+E system; integrating out the environmental degrees of freedom then yields a general Langevin framework for S that incorporates both deterministic and stochastic contributions from E. Normally ordered representations, such as the Glauber-Sudarshan P representation and its positive variant due to Drummond and Gardiner, lead to Langevin equations in which (i) non-Markovian effects emerge exclusively in the deterministic terms, via a memory kernel, and (ii) noise contributions vanish when E is initially in the vacuum state. To demonstrate the power of this framework, we address the paradigmatic problem of delayed coherent feedback, in which the system is driven by its own past state, and study its impact on the laser linewidth: we recover the narrowing observed well above threshold and predict an enhanced narrowing just above it. Crucially, the number of stochastic variables scales linearly with the system size, making the framework suitable for problems ranging from a few degrees of freedom to genuinely many-body systems. This opens the way to the systematic study of non-Markovian driven-dissipative quantum systems using the same analytical and numerical tools that have long made phase-space methods so successful in the Markovian regime.
Quantum Markov models are employed ubiqui-tously in quantum physics and in quantum information theory due to their relative simplicity and analytical tractability. In particular, these models are known to give accurate approxi-mations for a wide range of quantum optical and meso scopic systems. However, in general, the validity of the Markov approximation entails assumptions regarding properties of the system of interest and its environment, which may not be satisfied or accurate in arbitrary physical systems. Therefore, developing useful modelling tools for general non-Markovian quantum systems for which the Markov approximation is inappropriate or deficient is an undertaking of significant importance. This work considers non-Markovian principal quantum systems that can be embedded in a larger Markovian quantum system with one or more compound baths consisting of an auxiliary quantum system and a quantum white noise field, and derives a set of coupled stochastic and quantum master equations for embedded non-Markovian quantum systems. The case of a purely Hamiltonian coupling between the principal and auxiliary systems as a closed system without coupling to white noises is included as a special case. The results are expected to be of interest for (open-loop and feedback) control of continuous-time non-Markovian systems and studying reduced models for numerical simulation of such systems. They may also shed more light on the general structure of continuous-time non-Markovian quantum systems.
Data of the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation of a system containing one spin-1/2 particle interacting with a bath of up to 32 spin-1/2 particles is used to construct a Markovian quantum master equation describing the dynamics of the system spin. The procedure of obtaining this quantum master equation, which takes the form of a Bloch equation with time-independent coefficients, accounts for all non-Markovian effects inasmuch the general structure of the quantum master equation allows. Our simulation results show that, with a few rather exotic exceptions, the Bloch-type equation with time-independent coefficients provides a simple and accurate description of the dynamics of a spin-1/2 particle in contact with a thermal bath. A calculation of the coefficients that appear in the Redfield master equation in the Markovian limit shows that this perturbatively derived equation quantitatively differs from the numerically estimated Markovian master equation, the results of which agree very well with the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation.