Dynamics of a large-spin-boson system in the strong coupling regime

Abstract

We investigate collective effects of an ensemble of biased two level systems interacting with a bosonic bath in the strong coupling regime. The two level systems are described by a large pseudo-spin J. An equation for the expectation value M(t) of the z-component of the pseudo spin is derived and solved numerically for an ohmic bath at T=0. In case of a large cut-off frequency of the spectral function, a Markov approximation is justified and an analytical solution is presented. We find that M(t) relaxes towards a highly correlated state with maximum value $\pm J$ for large times. However, this relaxation is extremely slow for most parameter values so as if the system was "frozen in" by interaction with the bosonic bath.