Unified error bounds for perturbations of non-Markovian open quantum systems in Gaussian environments

Abstract

We present perturbative error bounds for the non-Markovian dynamics of observables in open quantum systems interacting with Gaussian environments, governed by a general Liouville dynamics. This extends the work of [Mascherpa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 100401, 2017], which demonstrated qualitatively tighter bounds over the standard Gr\"onwall-type inequality for unitary system-bath evolution. Our results apply to systems with both bosonic and fermionic environments. Our approach utilizes a superoperator formalism, which avoids the need for formal coherent state path integral calculations, or the dilation of Lindblad dynamics into an equivalent unitary framework with infinitely many degrees of freedom. This enables a unified treatment of a wide range of open quantum systems. These findings provide a solid theoretical basis for various recently developed pseudomode methods in simulating open quantum system dynamics.