title: Nonequilibrium quantum dynamics in the condensed phase via the generalized quantum master equation.
abstract: The Nakajima-Zwanzig generalized quantum master equation provides a general, and formally exact, prescription for simulating the reduced dynamics of a quantum system coupled to a quantum bath. In this equation, the memory kernel accounts for the influence of the bath on the system's dynamics, and the inhomogeneous term accounts for initial system-bath correlations. In this paper, we propose a new approach for calculating the memory kernel and inhomogeneous term for arbitrary initial state and system-bath coupling. The memory kernel and inhomogeneous term are obtained by numerically solving a single inhomogeneous Volterra equation of the second kind for each. The new approach can accommodate a very wide range of projection operators, and requires projection-free two-time correlation functions as input. An application to the case of a two-state system with diagonal coupling to an arbitrary bath is described in detail. Finally, the utility and self-consistency of the formalism are demonstrated by an explicit calculation on a spin-boson model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and FOCUS Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1055, USA.
authors.forename: Ming-Liang
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Being J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Ka
authors.forename: Eitan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geva