Microscopic theory of energy dissipation and decoherence in solid-state systems: A reformulation of the conventional Markov limit

Abstract: We present and discuss a general density-matrix description of energy-dissipation and decoherence phenomena in open quantum systems, able to overcome the intrinsic limitations of the conventional Markov approximation. In particular, the proposed alternative adiabatic scheme does not threaten positivity at any time. The key idea of our approach rests in the temporal symmetrization and coarse graining of the scattering term in the Liouville-von Neumann equation, before applying the reduction procedure over the environment degrees of freedom. The resulting dynamics is genuinely Lindblad-like and recovers the Fermi's golden rule features in the semiclassical limit. Applications to the prototypical case of a semiconductor quantum dot exposed to incoherent phonon excitation peaked around a central mode are discussed, highlighting the success of our formalism with respect to the critical issues of the conventional Markov limit.