Description of quantum dynamics of open systems based on collision-like models

Abstract

Master equations in the Lindblad form describe evolution of open quantum systems that is completely positive and simultaneously has a semigroup property. We analyze a possibility to derive this type of master equations from an intrinsically discrete dynamics that is modelled as a sequence of collisions between a given quantum system (a qubit) with particles that form the environment. In order to illustrate our approach we analyze in detail how a process of an exponential decay and a process of decoherence can be derived from a collision-like model in which particular collisions are described by SWAP and controlled-NOT interactions, respectively.