Master equation

About: Master equation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10541 publications have been published within this topic receiving 276095 citations.

Thermodynamic limit of a nonequilibrium steady state: Maxwell-type construction for a bistable biochemical system.

Abstract: We show that the thermodynamic limit of a bistable phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycle has a selection rule for the "more stable" macroscopic steady state. The analysis is akin to the Maxwell construction. Based on the chemical master equation approach, it is shown that, except at a critical point, bistability disappears in the stochastic model when fluctuation is sufficiently low but unneglectable. Onsager's Gaussian fluctuation theory applies to the unique macroscopic steady state. With an initial state in the basin of attraction of the "less stable" steady state, the deterministic dynamics obtained by the law of mass action is a metastable phenomenon. Stability and robustness in cell biology are emergent stochastic concepts.

Coherent transport of quantum states by deep reinforcement learning

Abstract: Some problems in physics can be handled only after a suitable ansatz solution has been guessed, proving to be resilient to generalization. The coherent transport of a quantum state by adiabatic passage through an array of semiconductor quantum dots is an excellent example of such a problem, where it is necessary to introduce a so-called counterintuitive control sequence. Instead, the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) technique has proven to be able to solve very complex sequential decision-making problems, despite a lack of prior knowledge. We show that DRL discovers a control sequence that outperforms the counterintuitive control sequence. DRL can even discover novel strategies when realistic disturbances affect an ideal system, such as detuning or when dephasing or losses are added to the master equation. DRL is effective in controlling the dynamics of quantum states and, more generally, whenever an ansatz solution is unknown or insufficient to effectively treat the problem. Many problems in physics do not have an exact solution method, so their resolution has been sometimes possible only by guessing test functions. The authors apply Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to control coherent transport of quantum states in arrays of quantum dots and demonstrate that DRL can solve the control problem in the absence of a known analytical solution even under disturbance conditions.

Dissipation and thermal noise in hybrid quantum systems in the ultrastrong-coupling regime

Abstract: The interaction among the components of a hybrid quantum system is often neglected when considering the coupling of these components to an environment. However, if the interaction strength is large, this approximation leads to unphysical predictions, as has been shown for cavity-QED and optomechanical systems in the ultrastrong-coupling regime. To deal with these cases, master equations with dissipators retaining the interaction between these components have been derived for the quantum Rabi model and for the standard optomechanical Hamiltonian. In this article, we go beyond these previous derivations and present a general master equation approach for arbitrary hybrid quantum systems interacting with thermal reservoirs. Specifically, our approach can be applied to describe the dynamics of open hybrid systems with harmonic, quasiharmonic, and anharmonic transitions. We apply our approach to study the influence of temperature on multiphoton vacuum Rabi oscillations in circuit QED. We also analyze the influence of temperature on the conversion of mechanical energy into photon pairs in an optomechanical system, which has been recently described at zero temperature. We compare our results with previous approaches, finding that these sometimes overestimate decoherence rates and underestimate excited-state populations.

An Introduction to Fractional Diffusion

Abstract: The mathematical description of diffusion has a long history with many different formulations including phenomenological models based on conservation of mass and constitutive laws; probabilistic models based on random walks and central limit theorems; microscopic stochastic models based on Brownian motion and Langevin equations; and mesoscopic stochastic models based on master equations and Fokker-Planck equations. A fundamental result common to the different approaches is that the mean square displacement of a diffusing particle scales linearly with time. However there have been numerous experimental measurements in which the mean square displacement of diffusing particles scales as a fractional order power law in time. In recent years a great deal of progress has been made in extending the different models for diffusion to incorporate this fractional diffusion. The tools of fractional calculus have proven very useful in these developments, linking together fractional constitutive laws, continuous time random walks, fractional Langevin equations and fractional Brownian motions. These notes provide a tutorial style overview of standard and fractional diffusion processes.

Lecture Notes on the Theory of Open Quantum Systems

Abstract: This is a self-contained set of lecture notes covering various aspects of the theory of open quantum system, at a level appropriate for a one-semester graduate course. The main emphasis is on completely positive maps and master equations, both Markovian and non-Markovian.