# Accuracy Assessment of Perturbative Master Equations -- Embracing Non-Positivity

## TL;DR

This paper evaluates the accuracy of various perturbative master equations for open quantum systems, highlighting that non-positivity violations can serve as indicators of the breakdown of weak coupling assumptions.

## Contribution

It provides a comprehensive assessment of multiple master equations, emphasizing the significance of non-positivity as a validity indicator in quantum dynamics modeling.

## Key findings

- Redfield Equation with time-dependent coefficients is most accurate.
- Positivity violations occur only when perturbative methods become invalid.
- Non-positivity should be viewed as a sign of the breakdown of weak coupling assumptions.

## Abstract

The reduced dynamics of an open quantum system obtained from an underlying microscopic Hamiltonian can in general only approximately be described by a time local master equation. The quality of that approximation depends primarily on the coupling strength and the structure of the environment. Various such master equations have been proposed with different aims. Choosing the most suitable one for a specific system is not straight forward. By focusing on the accuracy of the reduced dynamics we provide a thorough assessment for a selection of methods (Redfield Equation, Quantum Optical Master Equation, Coarse-Grained Master Equation, a related dynamical map approach and a partial-secular approximation). Whether or not an approach guarantees positivity we consider secondary, here. We use two qubits coupled to a Lorentzian environment in a spin-boson like fashion modeling a generic situation with various system and bath time scales. We see that, independent of the initial state, the simple Redfield Equation with time dependent coefficients is significantly more accurate than all other methods under consideration. We emphasize that positivity violation in the Redfield formalism becomes relevant only in a regime where any of the perturbative master equations considered here are rendered invalid anyway. This implies that the loss of positivity should in fact be welcomed as an important feature: it indicates the breakdown of the weak coupling assumption. In addition we present the various approaches in a self-contained way and use the behavior of their errors to provide further insight into the range of validity of each method.