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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Unveiling coherent dynamics in non-Markovian open quantum systems: Exact expression and recursive perturbation expansion

Alessandra Colla1,2,3,*, Heinz-Peter Breuer3,4, and Giulio Gasbarri5,6,†

  • *Contact author: alessandra.colla@unimi.it
  • †Contact author: giulio.gasbarri@uni-siegen.de
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Phys. Rev. A 112, L050203 – Published 26 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n5nl-gn1y

Abstract

We introduce a systematic framework to derive the effective Hamiltonian governing the coherent dynamics of non-Markovian open quantum systems. By applying the minimal dissipation principle, we uniquely isolate the coherent contribution to the time-local generator of the reduced dynamics. We derive a general expression for the effective Hamiltonian and develop a recursive perturbative expansion that expresses it in terms of system-bath interaction terms and bath correlation functions. This expansion provides a systematic tool for analyzing energy renormalization effects across different coupling regimes. Applying our framework to paradigmatic spin systems, we reveal how environmental correlations influence energy shifts and eigenbasis rotations, offering insights into strong-coupling effects and non-Markovian quantum thermodynamics.

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Information

Phys. Rev. A 112, L050203– Published 26 November, 2025
  • Received 9 May 2025
  • Accepted 30 October 2025
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