Nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory: an auxiliary quantum master equation approach

Variational Approach to Entangled Non-Hermitian Open Systems

The pseudomode model effectively captures the nonperturbative dynamics of open quantum systems with significantly reduced degrees of freedom. However, it is limited by the exponential growth of the Hilbert space dimension. To overcome the computational challenges, we propose a novel method that combines the multiple Davydov Ansatz with the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism. Within this framework, the Lindblad equation is transformed into the non-Hermitian Schrödinger equation in a double Hilbert space, with its dynamics determined using the time-dependent variational principle. Three cases are calculated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. We first discuss how the Davydov Ansatz works for the model with a single pseudomode. Extending the method to multiple pseudomodes, we show that the Ansatz effectively circumvents the exponential growth of the Hilbert space. Additionally, the method is also capable of addressing potential intersections that emerge in multibath scenarios. This approach offers potential applicability to various types of pseudomode models and other dissipative systems, providing a promising tool for the studies of open quantum dynamics.

Entropy production in the mesoscopic-leads formulation of quantum thermodynamics

Understanding the entropy production of systems strongly coupled to thermal baths is a core problem of both quantum thermodynamics and mesoscopic physics. While many techniques exist to accurately study entropy production in such systems, they typically require a microscopic description of the baths, which can become numerically intractable to study for large systems. Alternatively an open-systems approach can be employed with all the nuances associated with various levels of approximation. Recently, the mesoscopic leads approach has emerged as a powerful method for studying such quantum systems strongly coupled to multiple thermal baths. In this method, a set of discretized lead modes, each locally damped, provide a Markovian embedding. Here we show that this method proves extremely useful to describe entropy production of a strongly coupled open quantum system. We show numerically, for both noninteracting and interacting setups, that a system coupled to a single bath exhibits a thermal fixed point at the level of the embedding. This allows us to use various results from the thermodynamics of quantum dynamical semigroups to infer the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of the strongly coupled, non-Markovian central systems. In particular, we show that the entropy production in the transient regime recovers the well-established microscopic definitions of entropy production with a correction that can be computed explicitly for both the single- and multiple-lead cases.

Numerically Exact Simulation of Photodoped Mott Insulators

A description of long-lived photodoped states in Mott insulators is challenging, as it needs to address exponentially separated timescales. We demonstrate how properties of such states can be computed using numerically exact steady state techniques, in particular, the quantum Monte Carlo algorithm, by using a time-local ansatz for the distribution function with separate Fermi functions for the electron and hole quasiparticles. The simulations show that the Mott gap remains robust to large photodoping, and the photodoped state has hole and electron quasiparticles with strongly renormalized properties.

Negative cavity photon spectral function in an optomechanical system with two parametrically-driven mechanical modes

We propose an experimentally feasible optomechanical scheme to realize a negative cavity photon spectral function (CPSF) which is equivalent to a negative absorption. The system under consideration is an optomechanical system consisting of two mechanical (phononic) modes which are linearly coupled to a common cavity mode via the radiation pressure while parametrically driven through the coherent time-modulation of their spring coefficients. Using the equations of motion for the cavity retarded Green's function obtained in the framework of the generalized linear response theory, we show that in the red-detuned and weak-coupling regimes a frequency-dependent effective cavity damping rate (ECDR) corresponding to a negative CPSF can be realized by controlling the cooperativities and modulation parameters while the system still remains in the stable regime. Nevertheless, such a negativity which acts as an optomechanical gain never occurs in a standard (an unmodulated bare) cavity optomechanical system. Besides, we find that the presence of two modulated mechanical degrees of freedom provides more controllability over the magnitude and bandwidth of the negativity of CPSF, in comparison to the setup with a single modulated mechanical oscillator. Interestingly, the introduced negativity may open a new platform to realize an extraordinary (modified) optomechanically induced transparency (in which the input signal is amplified in the output) leading to a perfect tunable optomechanical filter with switchable bandwidth which can be used as an optical transistor.

Quantum Monte Carlo Method in the Steady State

We present a numerically exact steady-state inchworm Monte Carlo method for nonequilibrium quantum impurity models. Rather than propagating an initial state to long times, the method is directly formulated in the steady state. This eliminates any need to traverse the transient dynamics and grants access to a much larger range of parameter regimes at vastly reduced computational costs. We benchmark the method on equilibrium Green's functions of quantum dots in the noninteracting limit and in the unitary limit of the Kondo regime. We then consider correlated materials described with dynamical mean field theory and driven away from equilibrium by a bias voltage. We show that the response of a correlated material to a bias voltage differs qualitatively from the splitting of the Kondo resonance observed in bias-driven quantum dots.

Dynamical phase transitions in the collisionless pre-thermal states of isolated quantum systems: theory and experiments

We overview the concept of dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) in isolated quantum systems quenched out of equilibrium. We focus on non-equilibrium transitions characterized by an order parameter, which features qualitatively distinct temporal behavior on the two sides of a certain dynamical critical point. DPTs are currently mostly understood as long-lived prethermal phenomena in a regime where inelastic collisions are incapable to thermalize the system. The latter enables the dynamics to substain phases that explicitly break detailed balance and therefore cannot be encompassed by traditional thermodynamics. Our presentation covers both cold atoms as well as condensed matter systems. We revisit a broad plethora of platforms exhibiting pre-thermal DPTs, which become theoretically tractable in a certain limit, such as for a large number of particles, large number of order parameter components, or large spatial dimension. The systems we explore include, among others, quantum magnets with collective interactions,ϕ⁴quantum field theories, and Fermi-Hubbard models. A section dedicated to experimental explorations of DPTs in condensed matter and AMO systems connects this large variety of theoretical models.

Generalized master equation for charge transport in a molecular junction: Exact memory kernels and their high order expansion

We derive a set of generalized master equations (GMEs) to study charge transport dynamics in molecular junctions using the Nakajima-Zwanzig-Mori projection operator approach. In the new GME, time derivatives of population on each quantum state of the molecule, as well as the tunneling current, are calculated as the convolution of time non-local memory kernels with populations on all system states. The non-Markovian memory kernels are obtained by combining the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method and a previous derived Dyson relation for the exact kernel. A perturbative expansion of these memory kernels is then calculated using the extended HEOM developed in our previous work [M. Xu et al., J. Chem. Phys. 146, 064102 (2017)]. By using the resonant level model and the Anderson impurity model, we study properties of the exact memory kernels and analyze convergence properties of their perturbative expansions with respect to the system-bath coupling strength and the electron-electron repulsive energy. It is found that exact memory kernels calculated from HEOM exhibit short memory times and decay faster than the population and current dynamics. The high order perturbation expansion of the memory kernels can give converged results in certain parameter regimes. The Padé and Landau-Zener resummation schemes are also found to give improved results over low order perturbation theory.

Performance of reservoir discretizations in quantum transport simulations

Quantum transport simulations often use explicit, yet finite, electronic reservoirs. These should converge to the correct continuum limit, albeit with a trade-off between discretization and computational cost. Here, we study this interplay for extended reservoir simulations, where relaxation maintains a bias or temperature drop across the system. Our analysis begins in the non-interacting limit, where we parameterize different discretizations to compare them on an even footing. For many-body systems, we develop a method to estimate the relaxation that best approximates the continuum by controlling virtual transitions in Kramers turnover for the current. While some discretizations are more efficient for calculating currents, there is little benefit with regard to the overall state of the system. Any gains become marginal for many-body, tensor network simulations, where the relative performance of discretizations varies when sweeping other numerical controls. These results indicate that typical reservoir discretizations have little impact on numerical costs for certain computational tools. The choice of a relaxation parameter is nonetheless crucial, and the method we develop provides a reliable estimate of the optimal relaxation for finite reservoirs.

Maximally localized dynamical quantum embedding for solving many-body correlated systems

Quantum computing opens new avenues for modeling correlated materials, which are notoriously challenging to solve due to the presence of large electronic correlations. Quantum embedding approaches, such as dynamical mean-field theory, provide corrections to first-principles calculations for strongly correlated materials, which are poorly described at lower levels of theory. Such embedding approaches are computationally demanding on classical computing architectures and hence remain restricted to small systems, limiting the scope of their applicability. Hitherto, implementations on quantum computers have been limited by hardware constraints. Here, we derive a compact representation, where the number of quantum states is reduced for a given system while retaining a high level of accuracy. We benchmark our method for archetypal quantum states of matter that emerge due to electronic correlations, such as Kondo and Mott physics, both at equilibrium and for quenched systems. We implement this approach on a quantum emulator, demonstrating a reduction of the required number of qubits.

Analytic expressions for the steady-state current with finite extended reservoirs

Open-system simulations of quantum transport provide a platform for the study of true steady states, Floquet states, and the role of temperature, time dynamics, and fluctuations, among other physical processes. They are rapidly gaining traction, especially techniques that revolve around "extended reservoirs," a collection of a finite number of degrees of freedom with relaxation that maintains a bias or temperature gradient, and have appeared under various guises (e.g., the extended or mesoscopic reservoir, auxiliary master equation, and driven Liouville-von Neumann approaches). Yet, there are still a number of open questions regarding the behavior and convergence of these techniques. Here, we derive general analytical solutions, and associated asymptotic analyses, for the steady-state current driven by finite reservoirs with proportional coupling to the system/junction. In doing so, we present a simplified and unified derivation of the non-interacting and many-body steady-state currents through arbitrary junctions, including outside of proportional coupling. We conjecture that the analytic solution for proportional coupling is the most general of its form for isomodal relaxation (i.e., relaxing proportional coupling will remove the ability to find compact, general analytical expressions for finite reservoirs). These results should be of broad utility in diagnosing the behavior and implementation of extended reservoir and related approaches, including the convergence to the Landauer limit (for non-interacting systems) and the Meir-Wingreen formula (for many-body systems).

Open System Tensor Networks and Kramers' Crossover for Quantum Transport

Tensor networks are a powerful tool for many-body ground states with limited entanglement. These methods can nonetheless fail for certain time-dependent processes-such as quantum transport or quenches-where entanglement growth is linear in time. Matrix-product-state decompositions of the resulting out-of-equilibrium states require a bond dimension that grows exponentially, imposing a hard limit on simulation timescales. However, in the case of transport, if the reservoir modes of a closed system are arranged according to their scattering structure, the entanglement growth can be made logarithmic. Here, we apply this ansatz to open systems via extended reservoirs that have explicit relaxation. This enables transport calculations that can access steady states, time dynamics and noise, and periodic driving (e.g., Floquet states). We demonstrate the approach by calculating the transport characteristics of an open, interacting system. These results open a path to scalable and numerically systematic many-body transport calculations with tensor networks.

Auxiliary Master Equation for Nonequilibrium Dual-Fermion Approach

We introduce an auxiliary quantum master equation dual fermion method and argue that it presents a convenient way to describe steady states of correlated impurity models. The scheme yields an expansion around a reference that is much closer to the true nonequilibrium state than that in the original dual fermion formulation. In steady-state situations, the scheme is numerically inexpensive and avoids time propagation. The Anderson impurity model is used to test the approach against numerically exact benchmarks.

Auxiliary master equation approach within stochastic wave functions: Application to the interacting resonant level model

We present further developments of the auxiliary master equation approach (AMEA), a numerical method to simulate many-body quantum systems in as well as out of equilibrium and apply it to the interacting resonant level model to benchmark the new developments. In particular, our results are obtained by employing the stochastic wave functions method to solve the auxiliary open quantum system arising within AMEA. This development allows us to reach extremely low wall times for the calculation of correlation functions with respect to previous implementations of AMEA. An additional significant improvement is obtained by extrapolating a series of results obtained by increasing the number of auxiliary bath sites, N_{B}, used within the auxiliary open quantum system formally to the limit of N_{B}→∞. Results for the current-voltage characteristics and for equilibrium correlation functions are compared with the one obtained by exact and matrix-product states-based approaches. Further, we complement this benchmark by the presentation of spectral functions for higher temperatures where we find different behaviors around zero frequency depending on the hybridization strength.

Accuracy of the microcanonical Lanczos method to compute real-frequency dynamical spectral functions of quantum models at finite temperatures

We examine the accuracy of the microcanonical Lanczos method (MCLM) developed by Long et al. [Phys. Rev. B 68, 235106 (2003)PRBMDO0163-182910.1103/PhysRevB.68.235106] to compute dynamical spectral functions of interacting quantum models at finite temperatures. The MCLM is based on the microcanonical ensemble, which becomes exact in the thermodynamic limit. To apply the microcanonical ensemble at a fixed temperature, one has to find energy eigenstates with the energy eigenvalue corresponding to the internal energy in the canonical ensemble. Here, we propose to use thermal pure quantum state methods by Sugiura and Shimizu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 010401 (2013)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.111.010401] to obtain the internal energy. After obtaining the energy eigenstates using the Lanczos diagonalization method, dynamical quantities are computed via a continued fraction expansion, a standard procedure for Lanczos-based numerical methods. Using one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with S=1/2, we demonstrate that the proposed procedure is reasonably accurate, even for relatively small systems.

Steady-State Dynamics and Effective Temperature for a Model of Quantum Criticality in an Open System

We study the thermal and nonthermal steady-state scaling functions and the steady-state dynamics of a model of local quantum criticality. The model we consider, i.e., the pseudogap Kondo model, allows us to study the concept of effective temperatures near fully interacting as well as weak-coupling fixed points. In the vicinity of each fixed point we establish the existence of an effective temperature-different at each fixed point-such that the equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation theorem is recovered. Most notably, steady-state scaling functions in terms of the effective temperatures coincide with the equilibrium scaling functions. This result extends to higher correlation functions as is explicitly demonstrated for the Kondo singlet strength. The nonlinear charge transport is also studied and analyzed in terms of the effective temperature.

Green's functions from real-time bold-line Monte Carlo calculations: spectral properties of the nonequilibrium Anderson impurity model

The nonequilibrium spectral properties of the Anderson impurity model with a chemical potential bias are investigated within a numerically exact real-time quantum Monte Carlo formalism. The two-time correlation function is computed in a form suitable for nonequilibrium dynamical mean field calculations. Additionally, the evolution of the model's spectral properties are simulated in an alternative representation, defined by a hypothetical but experimentally realizable weakly coupled auxiliary lead. The voltage splitting of the Kondo peak is confirmed and the dynamics of its formation after a coupling or gate quench are studied. This representation is shown to contain additional information about the dot's population dynamics. Further, we show that the voltage-dependent differential conductance gives a reasonable qualitative estimate of the equilibrium spectral function, but significant qualitative differences are found including incorrect trends and spurious temperature dependent effects.