Schwinger-Keldysh non-perturbative field theory of open quantum systems beyond the Markovian regime: Application to spin-boson and spin-chain-boson models

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive Schwinger-Keldysh field theory framework for non-perturbative, non-Markovian open quantum spin systems, enabling accurate analysis of complex models beyond traditional methods.

Contribution

It develops a unified, scalable approach using 2PI effective action and 1/N expansion to study interacting spins with multiple baths, surpassing existing techniques in complexity and accuracy.

Findings

Validated against tensor network benchmarks for spin-boson model.

Successfully applied to complex spin-chain-boson systems with multiple baths.

Demonstrated efficiency in simulating driven-dissipative quantum systems.

Abstract

We develop a unified framework for open quantum systems composed of many mutually interacting quantum spins, or any isomorphic systems like qubits and qudits, surrounded by one or more independent bosonic baths. Our framework, based on Schwinger-Keldysh field theory (SKFT), can handle arbitrary spin value S, dimensionality of space, and geometry, while being applicable to a large parameter space for system and bath or their coupling. It can probe regimes in which non-Markovian dynamics and nonperturbative effects pose formidable challenges for other state-of-the-art theoretical methods. This is achieved by working with the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action, which resums classes of Feynman diagrams of SKFT to an infinite order. Furthermore, such diagrams are generated via an expansion in 1/N, where N is the number of Schwinger bosons we employ to map spin operators onto canonically commuting ones, rather than via conventional expansion in system-bath coupling constant. We carefully benchmark our SKFT+2PI-computed results vs. numerically (quasi)exact ones from tensor network calculations applied to the archetypical spin-boson model where both methodologies are applicable. Additionally, we demonstrate the capability of SKFT+2PI to handle a much more complex spin-chain-boson model with multiple baths interacting with each spin where no benchmark from other methods is available at present. The favorable numerical cost of solving integro-differential equations produced by the SKFT+2PI framework with an increasing number of spins and time steps makes it a promising route for simulating driven-dissipative systems in quantum computing, quantum magnonics, and quantum spintronics.