Modeling dissipation in quantum active matter

Abstract: Active matter denotes a system of particles immersed in an external environment, from which the particles extract energy continuously in order to perform motion. Extending the paradigm of active matter to a quantum framework requires an open quantum system description. In this work, we consider a driven quantum particle whose external driving exhibits characteristics of classical activity. We model the dynamics with time-local master equations and analyze the particle motion at different time scales for different forms of the master equations. By systematically comparing several types of master equations, we uncover how the particle motion evolves under the interplay of quantum effects and active-like dynamics. These results are essential for guiding possible experiments aimed at realizing quantum analogues of classical active systems.