Extended non-Markovian stochastic Schrödinger equation with complex frequency modes for general basis functions

Abstract

We introduce an extended formulation of the non-Markovian stochastic Schrödinger equation with complex frequency modes (extended cNMSSE), designed for simulating open quantum system dynamics under arbitrary spectral densities. This extension employs non-exponential basis sets to expand the bath correlation functions, overcoming the reliance of the original cNMSSE on exponential decompositions of the spectral density. Consequently, the extended cNMSSE is applicable to environments beyond those characterized by Debye-type spectral densities. The flexibility to employ general basis functions is particularly advantageous for handling spectral densities with higher-order poles, for which exponential decompositions are often inaccurate or unavailable. The extended cNMSSE is implemented in a pseudo-Fock space using conventional ladder operators and solved efficiently via matrix product state techniques, preserving the favorable linear-scaling and wavefunction-based nature of the original method. Benchmark simulations across four representative cases, including discrete spectral density, Ohmic spectral density with exponential and algebraic cutoffs, and critically damped Brownian spectral density, demonstrate excellent agreement with results of hierarchy of forward–backward stochastic Schrödinger equations and extended hierarchical equation of motion.