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PRX Quantum

Effective-Hamiltonian Theory of Open Quantum Systems at Strong Coupling

Nicholas Anto-Sztrikacs, Ahsan Nazir, Dvira Segal

Published Apr 13, 2023• 63 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A new technique for open quantum dynamics, combining reaction coordinate mappings and the polaron transform, allows for efficient description of strong system-bath couplings, opening the way for novel applications in nanoscale transport and thermodynamics.
DOI
10.1103/prxquantum.4.020307

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•Nov 24, 2025•0 citations
We advance the compact dressed Hamiltonian (CDH) framework to simulate the dynamics of open quantum systems strongly coupled to structured bosonic environments. The CDH approach combines reaction-coordinate mapping with a polaron transformation, incorporating strong system-environment hybridization into a dressed representation before truncating the collective bosonic mode. As a result of this truncation, dynamical features are captured with substantially fewer states than in the original representation. The residual environment is treated using a weak-coupling Markovian quantum master equation. We benchmark the method for spin-boson-type models including a single spin, coupled spins, and spin ensembles, considering both resonant and off-resonant regimes and weak to strong system-bath coupling. Comparisons with hierarchical equations of motion and converged reaction-coordinate calculations demonstrate that the CDH representation systematically approaches the reference dynamics with a compact Hilbert space, accurately reproducing oscillation frequencies, relaxation behavior, and long-time populations over a broad parameter regime. The method further captures cooperative phenomena, including bath-mediated interactions, synchronization between spins, and signatures for collective emission. Beyond efficient time propagation, the CDH framework provides direct access to the spectrum and eigenmodes of the Liouvillian. We demonstrate that slow dynamical modes converge rapidly in the CDH representation, enabling identification of relaxation timescales without fitting time-dependent observables. As a whole, the CDH framework provides an efficient and physical description of strongly coupled open quantum-system dynamics.
We present the reaction-coordinate polaron-transform (RCPT) framework for generating effective Hamiltonian models to treat nonequilibrium open quantum systems at strong coupling with their surroundings. Our approach, which is based on two exact transformations of the Hamiltonian followed by its controlled truncation, ends with a new Hamiltonian with a weakened coupling to the environment. This new effective Hamiltonian mirrors the initial one, except that its parameters are dressed by the system-bath couplings. The power and elegance of the RCPT approach lie in its generality and in its mathematical simplicity, allowing for analytic work and thus profound understanding of the impact of strong system-bath coupling effects on open quantum system phenomena. Examples interrogated in this work include canonical models for quantum thermalization, charge and energy transport at the nanoscale, performance bounds of quantum thermodynamical machines such as absorption refrigerators and thermoelectric generators, as well as the equilibrium and nonequilibrium behavior of many-body dissipative spin chains.
In this article we want to present a thorough overview about the well known technique known as the Reaction Coordinate Mapping which is one of the most used theoretical tool in the context of Open quantum system and Quantum thermodynamics of quantum systems which is not weakly coupled to the reservoir. Here we discuss different aspects of the Reaction Coordinate mapping along with detailed mathematical derivations for the Bosonic and Fermionic mappings which can be achieved through the Symplectic and unitary transformations. In the later part of this article we discuss the derivation of the Quantum master equation for the extended systems (System+Reaction Coordinate) coupled to the residual reservoir in the weak coupling limit described by the usual Redfield Quantum Master equation. We observe that though the dynamics of the Extended system is Markovian in nature because of the weak coupling between the extended system and the Residual reservoir but the Reaction coordinate transformation enables us to analyses the dynamics of the system which is essentially non-Markovian. The idea of the mesoscopic lead construction and brute force chain mapping techniques has been introduced which can be used to bypass the strong system bath coupling situations.