Mainz 2026 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 43: Poster – Quantum Systems

Q 43.4: Poster

Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 17:00–19:00, Philo 2. OG

Perturbative Construction of Thermodynamically Consistent Master Equations — •Shreesha Shreepad Hegde and Christiane Koch — Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Constructing thermodynamically consistent master equations for multipartite open quantum systems requires knowledge of the energy eigenbasis of the total system. However, this is a computationally demanding task that typically involves the diagonalisation of large Hamiltonians. The so-called local approach circumvents this problem by constructing the master equation in the product basis of the local energy eigenbases. This is consistent with zeroth-order perturbation theory with respect to the interactions within the system, but gives rise to thermodynamically inconsistent master equations in the strong coupling regime [1].

Here we suggest approaching thermodynamic consistency by accounting for the interactions within the multipartite system iteratively. To this end, we combine a perturbation theory with block diagonalisation of the total Hamiltonian. This allows us to iteratively add higher-order corrections to the zeroth-order energy eigenbasis provided by the local approach. Subsequently, using the corrected eigenbasis, we derive master equations whose thermodynamic consistency can be tested at higher orders.

[1] A. Levy, R. Kosloff, ``The local approach to quantum transport may violate the second law of thermodynamics", EPL 107, 20004 (2014).

Keywords: Master equations; Open quantum systems; Quantum thermodynamics