2014/06/21 by David G. Tempel, Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Alán Aspuru‐Guzik · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Feynman diagram #Formalism (music) #Master equation #Open quantum system #Open system (computing) #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum mechanics #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Statistical physics #Time evolution #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/16/11/113066
17 pages, 6 Figures
arxiv created 2014/06/21 · openalex publication_date 2014/11/26 · arxiv updated 2015/06/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We show that Kitaevʼs construction of Feynmanʼs clock, in which the time-evolution of a closed quantum system is encoded as a ground state problem, can be extended to open quantum systems. In our formalism, the ground states of an ensemble of non-Hermitian Kitaev–Feynman clock Hamiltonians yield stochastic trajectories, which unravel the evolution of a Lindblad master equation. In this way, one can use the Kitaev–Feynman clock not only to simulate the evolution of a quantum system, but also its interaction with an environment such as a heat bath or measuring apparatus. A simple numerical example of a two-level atom undergoing spontaneous emission is presented and analyzed.