Open quantum many-body systems are an important setting that allows us to study the interplay between dissipation and interactions, contributing to a more accurate description of real-life phenomena and experiments, and providing new features to be exploited both on theoretical and technological grounds. This thesis deals with the study of such systems across a wide range of settings. Beyond providing the theoretical tools to analyze and understand this framework, the thesis also addresses some important and modern concepts. A key goal is to show how dissipation enables the realization of new phases of matter, such as quantum synchronization and time-crystal phases. To achieve this, various theoretical tools will be employed, ranging from path integral formalism to a Lindblad master equation approach. These same tools will also allow us to pursue another important goal: studying the dynamics of many-body systems subject to continuous measurements. This will lead to observing the emergence of a recently discovered phenomenon, known as measurement-induced phase transitions, and will provide a natural framework for addressing the complexity arising from the stochastic nature of quantum measurements. This thesis constitutes a modern and comprehensive view of the field of open quantum many-body systems, with a special focus on novel phases of matter emerging from interactions with an external environment or with a measuring device.
Open quantum many-body systems are an important setting that allows us to study the interplay between dissipation and interactions, contributing to a more accurate description of real-life phenomena and experiments, and providing new features to be exploited both on theoretical and technological grounds. This thesis deals with the study of such systems across a wide range of settings. Beyond providing the theoretical tools to analyze and understand this framework, the thesis also addresses some important and modern concepts. A key goal is to show how dissipation enables the realization of new phases of matter, such as quantum synchronization and time-crystal phases. To achieve this, various theoretical tools will be employed, ranging from path integral formalism to a Lindblad master equation approach. These same tools will also allow us to pursue another important goal: studying the dynamics of many-body systems subject to continuous measurements. This will lead to observing the emergence of a recently discovered phenomenon, known as measurement-induced phase transitions, and will provide a natural framework for addressing the complexity arising from the stochastic nature of quantum measurements. This thesis constitutes a modern and comprehensive view of the field of open quantum many-body systems, with a special focus on novel phases of matter emerging from interactions with an external environment or with a measuring device.
Out-of-equilibrium quantum many-body systems stand at the forefront of modern theoretical physics, addressing fundamental questions on thermalization, transport, and universal phenomena. These fields, already well established in condensed matter, statistical physics, quantum optics, and quantum information theory, are progressively gaining even greater relevance with the rapid development of quantum technologies and simulation, which inherently operate in dynamical regimes. In recent years, the traditional paradigm of unitary quantum evolution has been expanded to include measurements, opening new directions in out-of-equilibrium physics. At the core of these advances lie measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPTs), which have emerged as a new class of dynamical critical phenomena characterizing the general behavior of monitored quantum dynamics. When external monitoring intertwines with unitary evolution, many-body quantum correlations change their structure, giving rise to distinct entanglement phases of matter. This discovery has sparked enormous interest in MIPTs, leading to significant advances in open quantum systems, entanglement theory, and more broadly quantum complexity. Despite much progress, a full understanding of monitored many-body dynamics is far from complete, leaving several open questions on the nature of MIPTs, their experimental observability, and the possibilities offered by measurements to enhance control over synthetic quantum matter. These issues persist due to the intrinsic complexity of the problem and the lack of efficient tools to study it, mainly caused by the stochastic character of monitored evolution. This thesis addresses these challenges by expanding the investigation of measurement-induced phenomena in new settings and introducing innovative probes of entanglement and many-body quantum complexity for MIPTs. A core question we investigate is the role of symmetries, non-ergodicity, and especially integrability in measurement-induced criticality, which dramatically affect the non-equilibrium phases. We further explore how these phenomena extend beyond bipartite quantum correlations to multipartite entanglement and quantum non-stabilizerness, highlighting the non-trivial interplay between measurements and complexity notions rooted in quantum information theory. Finally, we focus on the compelling problem of decoherence, modeling how noise spoils entanglement structures. These findings, supported by advanced numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, deepen the current understanding of entanglement, complexity, and integrability in monitored quantum many-body systems, offering new perspectives on their rich behavior. In parallel, we address the experimental problem of dissipation in MIPTs, which is of key relevance for practical implementations. We anticipate the present investigation to foster future research on the nature of monitored dynamical critical phenomena and, more broadly, the applications of measurements in quantum state evolution.
Remarkable experimental progress and theoretical advancements in the study of strongly corre- lated systems have opened up new doors towards a better understanding of interesting states of matter. Such states could possibly be used to develop novel technological applications based on the principles of quantum mechanics. In recent years, the investigation of both complex solid state and ultracold atom systems has lead to a number of fascinating discoveries with regards to their non-equilibrium properties. One route to probe non-equilibrium physics is to consider the evolution of open systems defined by the coupling to an external environment introducing dissipation. Engineering the environment according to predefined requirements can then be used to dynamically prepare states which are difficult to access otherwise. This thesis explores the dynamics of many-body open quantum systems aiming at under- standing the effects resulting from the interplay of kinetic motion, interactions and dissipation in different physical settings. First, we build upon recent developments concerning the coupling of ultracold atoms to optical resonators which are subject to photon losses. We show how the dissipation can trigger an attractor dynamics towards a topologically non-trivial steady state that is robust against perturbations. The numerically obtained full open system evolution en- ables us to not only characterize in detail the steady state but also to analyze the features of the approaching dynamics. Second, we study the propagation of two-time correlation functions in interacting quantum spin-1/2 chains in contact with an environment causing dephasing. Pro- vided with the numerically exact full time-evolution, we identify an algebraic scaling regime where time-translation invariance breaks down and uncover the emergence of aging dynam- ics. Finally, we study a system of interacting fermionic atoms in a one-dimensional lattice with particle loss at the central site. There we report on the dissipation-induced deceleration of the non-equilibrium dynamics known as the quantum Zeno effect. As in the majority of cases quantum many-body systems are not solvable analytically, another central aspect of this thesis deals with adapting numerical methods based on matrix product state algorithms to investigate open quantum systems dynamics.
This thesis deals with the study of dynamical properties of out-of-equilibrium quantum systems. We introduce in particular a general class of Spin-Boson models, which describe for example light-matter interaction or dissipative phenomena. We contribute to the development of a stochastic approach to describe the spin dynamics in these models. In this context, the effect of the bosonic environment is encapsulated into additional stochastic degrees of freedom whose time-correlations are determined by spectral properties of the bosonic environment. We use this approach to study many-body phenomena such as the dissipative quantum phase transition induced by an ohmic bosonic environment. Synchronization phenomena as well as dissipative topological transitions are identified. We also progress in the study of arrays of interacting light-matter systems. These theoretical developments follow recent experimental achievements, which could ensure a quantitative study of these phenomena. This notably includes ultra-cold atoms, trapped ions and cavity and circuit electrodynamics setups. We finally investigate hybrid systems comprising electronic quantum dots coupled to electromagnetic resonators, which enable us to provide a spectroscopic analysis of many-body phenomena linked to the Kondo effect. We also introduce thermoelectric applications in these devices.
These lecture notes discuss the recent theoretical advances in the understanding of open quantum many-body physics in platforms where both dissipative and coherent processes can be tuned and controlled to a high degree. We start by reviewing the theoretical frameworks and methods used to describe and tackle open quantum many-body systems. We then discuss the use of dissipative processes to engineer many-body stationary states with desired properties and the emergence of dissipative phase transitions arising out of the competition between coherent evolution and dissipation. We review the dynamics of open quantum many body systems in the presence of correlated many-body dissipative processes, such as heating and many-body losses. Finally we provide a different perspective on open quantum many-body systems by looking at stochastic quantum trajectories, relevant for the case in which the environment represents a monitoring device, and the associated measurement-induced phase transitions.
All real-world quantum systems interact with their surrounding environment to some extent. No matter how weak the coupling that prevents the system from being isolated, the evolution of an open quantum system is eventually plagued by non-unitary features, such as decoherence and dissipation. Decoherence is a quantum effect where the system loses its ability to exhibit coherent behavior. Nowadays, decoherence stands as a serious obstacle in quantum information processing. As the manipulation of quantum coherence in experiments has progressed, the need to better understand, control, and utilize dissipative non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum systems has grown in importance. This has ranged from fundamental questions associated with the quantum-to-classical transition and quantum thermodynamics innovation in quantum optics and cavity/circuit quantum electrodynamics. Current studies of many-body dynamics, ultracold atoms in optical lattices, trapped ions, superconducting systems, nanoelectro-mechanical systems, and quantum fields under the influence of external conditions offer new challenges to address questions regarding quantum systems far from equilibrium. On the theoretical side, quantum trajectory-based methods could be the key to both quantum nanodevice design and exploration of new regimes of quantum mechanics and quantum measurement, as well as applications to various quantum technologies.
All real-world quantum systems interact with their surrounding environment to some extent. No matter how weak the coupling that prevents the system from being isolated, the evolution of an open quantum system is eventually plagued by non-unitary features, such as decoherence and dissipation. Decoherence is a quantum effect where the system loses its ability to exhibit coherent behavior. Nowadays, decoherence stands as a serious obstacle in quantum information processing. As the manipulation of quantum coherence in experiments has progressed, the need to better understand, control, and utilize dissipative non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum systems has grown in importance. This has ranged from fundamental questions associated with the quantum-to-classical transition and quantum thermodynamics innovation in quantum optics and cavity/circuit quantum electrodynamics. Current studies of many-body dynamics, ultracold atoms in optical lattices, trapped ions, superconducting systems, nanoelectro-mechanical systems, and quantum fields under the influence of external conditions offer new challenges to address questions regarding quantum systems far from equilibrium. On the theoretical side, quantum trajectory-based methods could be the key to both quantum nanodevice design and exploration of new regimes of quantum mechanics and quantum measurement, as well as applications to various quantum technologies.