Many-body open quantum systems beyond Lindblad master equations

Abstract

Many-body quantum systems present a rich phenomenology which can be significantly altered when they are in contact with an environment. In order to study such setups, a number of approximations are usually performed, either concerning the system, the environment, or both. A typical approach for large quantum interacting systems is to use master equations which are local, Markovian, and in Lindblad form. Here, we present an implementation of the Redfield master equation using matrix product states and operators. We show that this allows us to explore parameter regimes of the many-body quantum system and the environment which could not be probed with previous approaches based on local Lindblad master equations. We also show the validity of our results by comparing with the numerical exact thermofield-based chain-mapping approach.