Exact simulations of environmental influences on quantum systems

Today, quantum systems are becoming increasingly important for technological innovations in information processing, cryptography, photonics, spintronics, and high-performance computing. They are in constant interaction with their environment, which influences their modes of operation in many respects. Physicists at the University of Bayreuth, in cooperation with partners at the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews, have developed a novel algorithm to simulate and calculate these influences. In Nature Physics they present their discovery, which is ground-breaking for the understanding of open quantum systems.