Sixth-order time-convolutionless master equation and beyond: Late-time resummations, two types of divergences, and the limits of validity
Perturbative master equations are essential for modeling open quantum systems but often exhibit late-time divergences when environmental correlations decay algebraically. In this work, we analyze the time-convolutionless (TCL) master equation expanded to order ${\mathrm{TCL}}_{2n}$ and demonstrate that, while van Kampen's cumulants suppress early-time secular growth, they ultimately diverge at long times. To overcome this, we introduce a resummation technique based on the Hadamard trick, which incorporates time integrals directly into the bath's spectral density via elementwise multiplication. This approach establishes a maximum expansion order, ${n}_{\text{max}}=\ensuremath{\lceil}s+1\ensuremath{\rceil}$, and defines a precision limit of the asymptotic states of $O({\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2\ensuremath{\lceil}s\ensuremath{\rceil}})$, where $s$ is the power-law exponent and $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ is the weak-coupling constant. The resummed master equation features renormalized Bohr frequencies that capture decoherence and spectral overlap effects. In the unbiased spin-boson model, this results in an inflation of the generator at a temperature-independent rate equal to the decoherence rate ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{2}$ and a finite validity time ${t}_{L}\ensuremath{\approx}(s+1)/{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{2}$. For exponentially decaying correlations, the method recovers a proper Markovian limit below a critical coupling threshold.
Authors
- Yiting Pei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0682-8410)
- Dragomir Davidović (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1486-4910)
- Shantanu Chaudhary
- L. Lampert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7075-608X)
- Elyana Crowder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4161-2787)
- Srikar Gadamsetty
- Jiahao Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7961-1944)
Institutions
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. A/Physical review, A
- Published
- 2025-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.111.042214
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.40
Funders
- Georgia Institute of Technology