Dynamics of a quantum system interacting with white non-Gaussian baths: Poisson noise master equation

Abstract: Quantum systems are unavoidably open to their surrounding degrees of freedom. The theory of open quantum systems is thus crucial to understanding the fluctuations, dissipation, and decoherence of a quantum system of interest. Typically, the bath is modeled as an ensemble of harmonic oscillators, which yields Gaussian statistics of the bath influence on the quantum systems. However, there are also phenomena in which the bath consists of two-state systems, spins, or anharmonic oscillators; therefore, the non-Gaussian properties of the bath become important. Nevertheless, a theoretical framework to describe quantum systems under the influence of such non-Gaussian baths is not well established. Here, we develop a theory to describe quantum dissipative systems affected by Poisson noise properties of the bath, because the L\'evi-It^o decomposition theorem asserts that Poisson noise is fundamental in describing arbitrary white noise beyond Gaussian properties. We introduce a quantum bath model that allows for the consistent description of dissipative quantum systems. The obtained master equation reveals non-Gaussian bath effects in the white noise regime, and provides an essential step toward describing open quantum dynamics under the influence of generic baths.