Variational neural network ansatz for steady states in open quantum systems

Abstract: We present a general variational approach to determine the steady state of open quantum lattice systems via a neural network approach. The steady-state density matrix of the lattice system is constructed via a purified neural network ansatz in an extended Hilbert space with ancillary degrees of freedom. The variational minimization of cost functions associated to the master equation can be performed using a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. As a first application and proof-of-principle, we apply the method to the dissipative quantum transverse Ising model.