On the exact master equations

Mohsen Razavy

Luca Ferialdi

We provide the exact non-Markovian master equation for a two-level system interacting with a thermal bosonic bath, and we write the solution of such a master equation in terms of the Bloch vector. We show that previous approximated results are particular limits of our exact master equation. We generalize these results to more complex systems involving an arbitrary number of two-level systems coupled to different thermal baths, providing the exact master equations also for these systems. As an example of this general case we derive the master equation for the Jaynes-Cummings model.

Pei-Yun Yang, Wei-Min Zhang

We show that the exact master equation incorporating initial correlations for open quantum systems, within the Nakajima-Zwanzig operator-projection method, is a homegenous master equation for the reduced density matrix. We also derive explicitly the exact master equation for a large class of bosonic and fermionic open quantum systems incorporating initial correlations, the resulting master equation is homogenous. We find that the effects of the initial correlations can be fully embedded into the fluctuation dynamics through the exact homogenous master equation. Also a generalized nonequilibrium fluctuation-dissipation theorem incorporating the initial correlations is obtained.

G. L. Braglia

Gang Ren, Jian-ming Du

H. Z. Shen, M. Qin, Xiao‐Ming Xiu +1 more

The driven two-level system is a useful model to describe many quantum objects, particularly in quantum information processing. However, the exact master equation for such a system has barely been explored. Making use of the Feynman-Vernon influence functional theory, we derive an exact non-Markovian master equation for the driven two-level system and show the lost feature in the perturbative treatment for this system. The perturbative treatment leads to the time-convolutionless (TCL) and Nakajima-Zwanzig (NZ) master equations. So to this end we derive the TCL and NZ master equations for the system and compare the dynamics given by the three master equations. We find the validity condition for the TCL and NZ master equations. Based on the exact non-Markovian master equation, we analyze the regime of validity for the secular approximation in the time-convolutionless master equation and discuss the leading corrections of the nonsecular terms to the quantum dynamics. Significant effects are found in the dynamics of the driven system.