Derivation of the Redfield quantum master equation and corrections to it by the Bogoliubov method

Abstract

Following the ideas N. N. Bogoliubov used to derive the classical and quantum nonlinear kinetic equations, we give an alternative derivation of the Redfield quantum linear master equation, which is widely used in the theory of open quantum systems, as well as higher-order corrections to it. This derivation naturally considers initially correlated system-reservoir states arising from the previous system-reservoir dynamics. It turns out that the Redfield equation does not require any modifications in this case. The expressions of higher-order corrections are simpler than those obtained by other methods.