Reducing Spatial and Temporal Dimensionality in the Multidimensional Caldeira-Leggett Model

Quantum 10, 2201 (2026).

https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-09-02-2201

Focusing on the real-time dynamics of the reduced density matrix of the multidimensional Caldeira-Leggett model, several techniques are adopted in this paper to reduce the spatial and temporal dimensionality, combined into an efficient algorithm. From a spatial perspective, an equivalent formulation of the Dyson series is presented. With the aid of a low-rank approximation, the spatial dimensionality of open quantum system simulations is halved. From a temporal perspective, the frozen Gaussian approximation is used to approximate both the evolution operator and the interaction operator in the multidimensional Caldeira-Leggett model. This reduces the high-dimensional integrals to one- and two-dimensional integrals independent of the truncation level of the Dyson series. Through these techniques, we design an efficient algorithm whose validity is verified through several numerical experiments, including a two-dimensional double slit simulation.