2020/12/31 by Michael Konopik, Eric Lutz
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Classical mechanics #Computer science #Dissipative system #Harmonic oscillator #Langevin equation #Lindblad equation #Master equation #Non-equilibrium thermodynamics #Open system (computing) #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum master equation #Quantum mechanics #Simple (philosophy) #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Statistical physics #cond-mat.stat-mech #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.4.013171
9 pages, 7 figures. Minor changes in the introduction/conclusion and correction of several minor typos in equations
openalex created_date 2021/01/05 · openalex publication_date 2022/03/02 · arxiv created 2022/03/22 · arxiv updated 2022/03/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Local quantum master equations provide a simple description of interacting subsystems coupled to different reservoirs. They have been widely used to study nonequilibrium critical phenomena in open quantum systems. We here investigate the validity of such a local approach by analyzing a paradigmatic system made of two harmonic oscillators each in contact with a heat bath. We evaluate the steady-state mean occupation number for varying temperature differences and find that local master equations generally fail to reproduce the results of an exact quantum-Langevin-equation description. We relate this property to the inability of the local scheme to properly characterize intersystem correlations, which we quantify with the help of the quantum mutual information.