Dissipative quantum dynamics
Dissipation can steer a quantum system toward a desired state and set the timescales on which it relaxes. I study both the design of dissipative dynamics and the relaxation of open many-body systems. The focus is on identifying structures that allow exact operator evolution and understanding how local coupling to an environment controls collective decay modes and relaxation rates.
Papers
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Exact operator dynamics in Lindbladian Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theories
Preprint · arXiv:2606.19465 (2026)
We study Wess–Zumino–Witten CFTs with Lindblad jump operators linear in current modes, using current algebra to find exactly closed equations for current observables. In Abelian theories, this works for arbitrary jump rates and includes cooling. In non-Abelian theories, equal upward and downward rates give closed single-current dynamics, while generic imbalances generate additional operators. The distinction identifies when dissipative evolution admits an exact analytical treatment.
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Dissipation meets conformal interface in open quantum systems: How the relaxation rate is suppressed
Physical Review B 112, 235143 (2025)
We quantify how an interface slows relaxation in a critical free-fermion chain subject to local dissipation. The ratio of Liouvillian gaps with and without the interface defines a relaxation coefficient, which we calculate analytically and numerically. In the setting studied, its dependence on interface strength differs from energy and entanglement transmission, while becoming independent of dissipation strength and location in the weak-dissipation regime.
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Universal Suppression of Dissipation across Conformal Interface in Open Quantum Critical Systems
Preprint · arXiv:2609.19292 (2026)
The slowest Liouvillian mode can switch as interface transmission changes, making a relaxation measure based only on the spectral gap depend on boundary conditions. We resolve this by defining a coefficient for individual decay modes. In the weak-dissipation regime, the harmonic and free-fermion chains studied share the same dependence on interface transmission across different boundary conditions and dissipation locations. For boundary dissipation, this behavior also persists at finite strength.