Non-Markovian master equation for a system of Fermions interacting with an electromagnetic field Original Research Article

For a system of charged Fermions interacting with an electromagnetic field, we derive a non-Markovian master equation in the second-order approximation of the weak dissipative coupling. A complex dissipative environment including Fermions, Bosons and the free electromagnetic field is taken into account. Besides the well-known Markovian term of Lindblad’s form, that describes the decay of the system by correlated transitions of the system and environment particles, this equation includes new Markovian and non-Markovian terms proceeding from the fluctuations of the self-consistent field of the environment. These terms describe fluctuations of the energy levels, transitions among these levels stimulated by the fluctuations of the self-consistent field of the environment, and the influence of the time-evolution of the environment on the system dynamics. We derive a complementary master equation describing the environment dynamics correlated with the dynamics of the system. As an application, we obtain non-Markovian Maxwell–Bloch equations and calculate the absorption spectrum of a field propagation mode transversing an array of two-level quantum dots.