2025/07/14 by Shiraishi, Koki, Nakagawa, Masaya, Mori, Takashi
#FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.10080
We derive a thermodynamically consistent quantum master equation that satisfies locality for quadratic systems coupled to independent and identical baths at each site. We show that the quasi-local Redfield equation coincides exactly with the Davies equation, which satisfies the detailed-balance condition, due to cancellation of quantum coherence generated by each bath. This derivation does not rely on the secular approximation, which fails in systems with vanishing energy-level spacings. We discuss generalizations of our result to slowly driven quadratic systems and generic quantum many-body systems. Our result paves the way to a thermodynamically consistent description of quantum many-body systems.