Variational principle for steady states of dissipative quantum many-body systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a variational framework to approximate steady states in dissipative quantum many-body systems, offering a flexible and effective alternative to traditional mean-field methods, demonstrated on a dissipative Ising model relevant to ultracold Rydberg atom experiments.

Contribution

It develops a novel variational approach for non-equilibrium steady states in dissipative quantum systems, applicable to various classes of quantum states.

Findings

Successfully applied to a dissipative Ising model

Demonstrated advantages over mean-field methods

Relevant for ultracold Rydberg atom experiments

Abstract

We present a novel generic framework to approximate the non-equilibrium steady states of dissipative quantum many-body systems. It is based on the variational minimization of a suitable norm of the quantum master equation describing the dynamics. We show how to apply this approach to different classes of variational quantum states and demonstrate its successful application to a dissipative extension of the Ising model, which is of importance to ongoing experiments on ultracold Rydberg atoms. Finally, we identify several advantages of the variational approach over previously employed mean-field-like methods.