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Lindblad superoperator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lindbladsuperoperator
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TheLindbladsuperoperatorisoftenusedtoexpressthequantummasterequationforadissipativesystem. Inthecanonicalformulationofquantummechanics,asystem'stimeevolutionisgovernedbyunitarydynamics.Thisimpliesthatphasecoherenceis maintainedthroughouttheprocess,andisaconsequenceofthefactthatallparticipatingdegreesoffreedomareconsidered.However,anyreal physicalsystemisnotabsolutelyisolated,andwillinteractwithitsenvironment.Thisinteractionwithdegreesoffreedomexternaltothesystem resultsindissipationofenergyintothesurroundings,andrandomizationofphase.Thislattereffectisthereasonquantummechanicsisdifficultto observeonamacroscopicscale.Moreso,understandingtheinteractionofaquantumsystemwithitsenvironmentisnecessarytounderstanding manycommonlyobservedphenomenalikethespontaneousemissionofatoms,ortheperformanceofmanyquantumtechnologicaldevices,likethe laser. Certainmathematicaltechniqueshavebeenintroducedtotreattheinteractionofaquantumsystemwithitsenvironment.Oneoftheseistheuseof thedensitymatrix,anditsassociatedmasterequation.Whileinprinciplethisapproachtosolvingquantumdynamicsisequivalenttothe SchrdingerpictureorHeisenbergpicture,itallowsmoreeasilyfortheinclusionofincoherentprocesses,whichrepresentenvironmental interactions.Thedensityoperatorhasthepropertythatitcanrepresentaclassicalmixtureofquantumstates,andisthusvitaltoaccuratelydescribe thedynamicsofsocalledopenquantumsystems. Foracollapseoperator ,theLindbladsuperoperator,actingonthedensitymatrix ,is

SuchatermisfoundregularlyintheLindbladequationasusedinquantumoptics,whereitcanexpressabsorptionoremissionofphotonsfroma reservoir.Forexample,themasterequationforasinglemodeopticalresonator(e.g.aFabryPerotcavity)coupledtoathermalbathis

where isthefrequencyoftheopticalmode, isthemodeannihilationoperator, isthemodelinewidth,and isthethermaloccupation numberofthephotonsinthebath,asgivenbytheBoseEinsteindistribution.

DerivationfromLiouvilliandynamics
Thederivation[1]assumesaquantumsystemwithafinitenumberofdegreesoffreedomcoupledtoabathcontaininganinfinitenumberofdegrees offreedom.ThesystemandbatheachpossessaHamiltonianwrittenintermsofoperatorsactingonlyontherespectivesubspaceofthetotalHilbert space.TheseHamiltoniansgoverntheinternaldynamicsoftheuncoupledsystemandbath.ThereisathirdHamiltonianthatcontainsproductsof systemandbathoperators,thuscouplingthesystemandbath.ThemostgeneralformofthisHamiltonianis

ThedynamicsoftheentiresystemcanbedescribedbytheLiouvilleequationofmotion, .Thisequation,containinganinfinite numberofdegreesoffreedom,isimpossibletosolveanalyticallyexceptinveryparticularcases.What'smore,undercertainapproximations,the bathdegreesoffreedomneednotbeconsidered,andaneffectivemasterequationcanbederivedintermsofthesystemdensitymatrix, .Theproblemcanbeanalyzedmoreeasilybymovingintotheinteractionpicture,definedbytheunitarytransformation ,where isanarbitraryoperator,and .ItisstraightforwardtoconfirmthattheLiouvilleequationbecomes

wheretheHamiltonian

isexplicitlytimedependent.Thisequationcanbeintegrateddirectlytogive

Thisimplicitequationfor canbesubstitutedbackintotheLiouvilleequationtoobtainanexactdifferointegralequation

Weproceedwiththederivationbyassumingtheinteractionisinitiatedat ,andatthattimetherearenocorrelationsbetweenthesystemand thebath.Thisimpliesthattheinitialconditionisfactorableas ,where isthedensityoperatorofthebathinitially.Sincethe systemandbathHamiltoniansactondifferentHilbertsubspaces,theycommute,andthusintheinteractionpicturewecanwrite

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Lindblad superoperator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

tracingoverthebathdegreesoffreedom, yields

.Tracingoverthebathdegreesoffreedomoftheaforementioneddifferointegralequation

Thisequationisexactforthetimedynamicsofthesystemdensitymatrixbutrequiresfullknowledgeofthedynamicsofthebathdegreesof freedom.AsimplifyingassumptioncalledtheBornapproximationrestsonthelargenessofthebathandtherelativeweaknessofthecoupling, whichistosaythecouplingofthesystemtothebathshouldnotsignificantlyalterthebatheigenstates.Inthiscasethefulldensitymatrixis factorableforalltimesas .Themasterequationbecomes

Theequationisnowexplicitinthesystemdegreesoffreedom,butisverydifficulttosolve.AfinalassumptionistheBornMarkoffapproximation thatthetimederivativeofthedensitymatrixdependsonlyonitscurrentstate,andnotonitspast.Thisassumptionisvalidunderfastbathdynamics, whereincorrelationsbetweenbathandsystemvariablesarelostextremelyquickly,andamountstoreplacing ontherighthandside oftheequation.

Thisisthefinalformofthemasterequationweneed.

LinearCoupling
IftheinteractionHamiltonianisassumedtohavetheform

forsystemoperators

andbathoperators

,themasterequationbecomes

whichcanbeexpandedas

Theexpectationvalues (ideally

arewithrespecttothebathdegreesoffreedom.Byassumingrapiddecayofthesecorrelations ),aboveformoftheLindbladsuperoperatorLisachieved.

References
1. ^Carmichael,Howard. AnOpenSystemsApproachtoQuantumOptics.SpringerVerlag,1991

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