Unraveling the non-Markovian spin-boson model and quantum quasi-Otto cycle
Phys. Rev. A 112, 042222 – Published 23 October, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mp8n-xnt2
Abstract
We use the spin-boson model to describe the dynamics of a two-level atom interacting with Fabry-Pérot cavity modes. We solve the Schrödinger equation for the system-bath model without the Born-Markov approximation to derive the non-Markovian reduced dynamics of the qubit. We further construct an exact Lindblad-type master equation for it. Similar to the quantum Otto cycle, we construct a non-Markovian quasicyclic process based on the atom-cavity interactions, which we call the quasi-Otto cycle. For judicious choices of input state and parameters, the quasicycle can be more efficient as a quantum engine than the Otto cycle. We also show that if the quasicycle is repeated multiple times, the efficiency of the quasi-Otto engine asymptotically approaches that of the Otto engine.
