Universal Structure of Computing Moments for Exact Quantum Dynamics: Application to Arbitrary System-Bath Couplings

Abstract: We introduce a general procedure for computing higher-order moments of correlation functions in open quantum systems, extending the scope of our recent work on Memory Kernel Coupling Theory (MKCT) [W. Liu, Y. Su, Y. Wang, and W. Dou, arXiv:2407.01923 (2024)]. This approach is demonstrated for arbitrary system-bath coupling that can be expressed as polynomial, $H_{SB} = \hat{V} (\alpha_0 + \alpha_1 \hat{q} + \alpha_2 \hat{q}^2+ \dots)$, where we show that the recursive commutators of a system operator obey a universal hierarchy. Exploiting this structure, the higher-order moments are obtained by evaluating the expectation values of the system and bath operators separately, with bath expectation values derived from the derivatives of a generating function. We further apply MKCT to compute the dipole autocorrelation function for the spin-boson model with both linear and quadratic coupling, achieving agreement with the hierarchical equations of motion approach. Our findings suggest a promising path toward accurate dynamics for complex open quantum systems.