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arXiv:2206.05701 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Is there a relativistic Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan master equation?

Lajos Diósi

Published Sep 12, 2022• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The celebrated GKLS master equation, widely called just the Lindblad equation, is the universal dynamical equation of nonrelativistic open quantum systems in their Markovian approximation. It is not necessary and perhaps impossible that GKLS equations possess sensible relativistic forms. In 2017, in a lucid talk on black hole information loss paradox, David Poulin argued for a Lorentz invariant GKLS master equation proposed by Alicki, Fannes, and Verbeure in 1986. The equation is really puzzling. A closer look uncovers a smartly hidden defect that leaves us without Lorentz invariant Markovian master equations. They, in view of the present author, should not exist.

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.106.l051901

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The celebrated GKLS master equation, widely called just the Lindblad equation, is the universal dynamical equation of nonrelativistic open quantum systems in their Markovian approximation. It is not necessary and perhaps impossible that GKLS equations possess sensible relativistic forms. In 2017, in a lucid talk on black hole information loss paradox, David Poulin argued for a Lorentz invariant GKLS master equation proposed by Alicki, Fannes, and Verbeure in 1986. The equation is really puzzling. A closer look uncovers a smartly hidden defect that leaves us without Lorentz invariant Markovian master equations. They, in view of the present author, should not exist.
In 1976, Gorini, Kossakowski, Sudarshan and Lindblad independently discovered a general form of master equations for an open quantum Markovian dynamics. In honor of all the authors, the equation is nowadays called the GKLS master equation. In this paper, we show universal constraints on the relaxation times valid for any d-level GKLS master equations, which is a generalization of the well-known constraints for 2-level systems. Specifically, we show that any relaxation rate, the inverse-relaxation time, is not greater than half of the sum of all relaxation rates. Since the relaxation times are measurable in experiments, our constraints provide a direct experimental test for the validity of the GKLS master equations, and hence for the conditions of the complete positivity and Markovianity.
An open quantum system can be described by a master equation, of which one of the most popular is the Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad (GKSL) equation. We revisit description of driven-dissipative quantum systems focusing on the appropriate choice of the system's basis and the respective transformations. We consider the GKSL equation in different bases and calculate the dynamics for a qubit and for a qudit. An appropriate choice of the basis is a fundamental problem for theoretical consideration of open quantum systems and provides an opportunity to obtain the desired evolution in practice.
Time-local quantum master equations that describe open quantum systems beyond the limit of ultraweak system-bath coupling are often not of Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad (GKSL) form. Prominent examples are the Redfield equation approximating general open quantum systems and the Hu-Paz-Zhang equation precisely describing a damped harmonic oscillator. In this study, we demonstrate that not only the former but also the latter can be brought to pseudo-Lindblad form. This form features a dissipator resembling that of a GKSL equation, with the distinction that some of the terms have negative weights. Moreover, we systematically investigate transformations that leave the dissipator of pseudo-Lindblad equations unchanged, while changing the relative weight between its positive and negative terms. These can be used to minimize the weights of the negative terms, which is optimal both for the convergence of a recently developed quantum-trajectory unraveling of pseudo-Lindblad equations and the truncation of the negative terms to obtain a GKSL equation.
The year 2026 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the two seminal papers in which Gorini, Kossakowski, and Sudarshan, and independently Lindblad, characterized the generators of completely positive quantum dynamical semigroups. We revisit the conceptual and historical route leading to the Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan (GKLS) master equation and examine several of its early developments and consequences. Our aim is to show how several initially separate mathematical and physical ideas converged in the GKLS structure theorem, imme- diately opening the way to manifold consequences for the description of dissipative quantum phenomena and how that theorem, fifty years later, remains both a foundational result and an active framework for open quantum dynamics.
A longstanding tool to characterize the evolution of open Markovian quantum systems is the GKSL (Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad) master equation. However, in some cases, open quantum systems can be effectively described with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, which have attracted great interest in the last twenty years due to a number of unconventional properties, such as the appearance of exceptional points. Here, we present a short review of these two different approaches aiming in particular to highlight their relation and illustrate different ways of connecting non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to a GKSL master equation for the full density matrix.
The theory of open quantum systems is one of the most essential tools for the development of quantum technologies. Furthermore, the Lindblad (or Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad) master equation plays a key role as it is the most general generator of Markovian dynamics in quantum systems. In this paper, we present this equation together with its derivation and methods of resolution. The presentation tries to be as self-contained and straightforward as possible to be useful to readers with no previous knowledge of this field.