Relaxation of interacting open quantum systems

We consider the transition from the description of a closed quantum system consisting of an open quantum system and a reservoir to the description of the open quantum system alone by eliminating the reservoir degrees of freedom by averaging over them. An approach based on the Lindblad master equation for the density matrix is used. A general scheme is developed for deriving the Lindblad superoperator that emerges after averaging the von Neumann equation over the reservoir degrees of freedom. This scheme is illustrated with the cases of radiation of a two-level atom into free space and the dynamics of the transition of a two-level atom from a pure state to a mixed state due to interaction with a dephasing reservoir. Special attention is paid to the open system consisting of several subsystems each of which independently interacts with the reservoir. In the case of noninteracting subsystems, the density matrix is a tensor product of the subsystem density matrices, and the Lindblad superoperator of the system is a sum of Lindblad superoperators of those subsystems. The interaction between the subsystems results not only in the emergence of the corresponding term in the Hamiltonian of the combined system but also in the nonadditivity of the Lindblad superoperators. This is often overlooked in modern literature, possibly leading, as is shown in this methodological note, to serious errors; for example, the second law of thermodynamics could be violated. (methodological notes)