Quantum simulation of the spin-boson model with a microwave circuit

Abstract

We consider superconducting circuits for the purpose of simulating the spin-boson model. The spin-boson model consists of a single two-level system coupled to bosonic modes. In most cases, the model is considered in a limit where the bosonic modes are sufficiently dense to form a continuous spectral bath. A very well known case is the ohmic bath, where the density of states grows linearly with the frequency. In the limit of weak coupling or large temperature, this problem can be solved numerically. If the coupling is strong, the bosonic modes can become sufficiently excited to make a classical simulation impossible. Here, we discuss how a quantum simulation of this problem can be performed by coupling a superconducting qubit to a set of microwave resonators. We demonstrate a possible implementation of a continuous spectral bath with individual bath resonators coupling strongly to the qubit. Applying a microwave drive scheme potentially allows us to access the strongcoupling regime of the spin-boson model. We discuss how the resulting spin relaxation dynamics with different initialization conditions can be probed by standard qubit-readout techniques from circuit quantum electrodynamics.

Asymptotic Floquet states of a periodically driven spin-boson system in the nonperturbative coupling regime

“…The spin-boson model [1] has been -and still remains -the subject of extensive studies, as it constitutes an archetype of open quantum system [2][3][4][5][6][7]. This model describes a single spin (qubit) coupled to a dissipative environment consisting of an infinite number of bosonic modes.…”

“…This model describes a single spin (qubit) coupled to a dissipative environment consisting of an infinite number of bosonic modes. The spinboson model is of relevance in a great variety of fields of physics and chemistry, with applications in electron tunneling [2,3], excitation transport in biological complexes [4,5], and superconducting qubit technologies [6,7], to name but a few.In the regime of weak coupling to the bosonic environment, the dynamics of the spin can be described by a master equation derived within the Born-Markov approximation [8] and improvements over this approximation, see for example Refs. [9,10].…”

Resonance inversion in a superconducting cavity coupled to artificial atoms and a microwave background

“…where κ ± i are the corresponding transition rates of twolevel system i. These rates are affected by the electromagnetic environment as seen by the transmons [26]. The temperature dependence of κ ± i is equivalent to Eqs.…”

Driven quantum dot coupled to a fractional quantum Hall edge

“…On the other hand, the spin-boson model is difficult to model experimentally. Suggested experiments include trapped ions 40,41 and superconducting circuits 42,43 . The quantum Hall edge set-up discussed in this work is an alternative proposal to study the spin-boson model.…”