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The study of open system dynamics is of paramount importance both from its fundamental aspects as well as from its potential applications in quantum technologies. In the simpler and most commonly studied case, the dynamics of the system can be described by a Lindblad master equation. However, identifying the Lindbladian that leads to general non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) is usually a non-trivial and challenging task. Here we introduce a method for reconstructing the corresponding Lindbaldian master equation given any target NESS, i.e., a Lindbladian Reverse Engineering ($\mathcal{L}$RE) approach. The method maps the reconstruction task to a simple linear problem. Specifically, to the diagonalization of a correlation matrix whose elements are NESS observables and whose size scales linearly (at most quadratically) with the number of terms in the Hamiltonian (Lindblad jump operator) ansatz. The kernel (null-space) of the correlation matrix corresponds to Lindbladian solutions. Moreover, the map defines an iff condition for $\mathcal{L}$RE, which works as both a necessary and a sufficient condition; thus, it not only defines, if possible, Lindbaldian evolutions leading to the target NESS, but also determines the feasibility of such evolutions in a proposed setup. We illustrate the method in different systems, ranging from bosonic Gaussian to dissipative-driven collective spins. We also discuss non-Markovian effects and possible forms to recover Markovianity in the reconstructed Lindbaldian., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

We discuss a sufficient condition for gapless excitations in the Lindbladian master equation for collective spin-boson systems and permutationally invariant systems. The condition relates a nonzero macroscopic cumulant correlation in the steady state to the presence of gapless modes in the Lindbladian. In phases arising from competing coherent and dissipative Lindbladian terms, we argue that such gapless modes, concomitant with angular momentum conservation, can lead to persistent dynamics in the spin observables with the possible formation of dissipative time-crystals. We study different models within this perspective, from Lindbladians with Hermitian jump operators, to non-Hermitian ones composed by collective spins and Floquet spin-boson systems. We also provide a simple analytical proof for the exactness of mean-field semiclassical approach in such systems based on a cumulant expansion., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures

Recent predictions for quantum-mechanical enhancements in the operation of small heat engines have raised renewed interest in their study from both a fundamental perspective and in view of applications. One essential question is whether collective effects may help to carry enhancements over larger scales, when increasing the number of systems composing the working substance of the engine. Such enhancements may consider not only power and efficiency, that is its performance, but, additionally, its constancy, i.e. the stability of the engine with respect to unavoidable environmental fluctuations. We explore this issue by introducing a many-body quantum heat engine model composed by spin pairs working in continuous operation. We study how power, efficiency and constancy scale with the number of spins composing the engine and introduce a well-defined macroscopic limit where analytical expressions are obtained. Our results predict power enhancements, both in finite-size and macroscopic cases, for a broad range of system parameters and temperatures, without compromising the engine efficiency, accompanied by coherence-enhanced constancy for finite sizes. We discuss these quantities in connection to Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relations (TUR)., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures

Boundary time crystals (BTC's) are non-equilibrium phases of matter occurring in quantum systems in contact to an environment, for which a macroscopic fraction of the many body system breaks time translation symmetry. We study BTC's in collective $d$-level systems, focusing in the cases with $d=2$, $3$ and $4$. We find that BTC's appear in different forms for the different cases. We first consider the model with collective $d=2$-level systems [presented in Phys. Rev. Lett. $121$, $035301$ ($2018$)], whose dynamics is described by a Lindblad master equation, and perform a throughout analysis of its phase diagram and Jacobian stability for different interacting terms in the coherent Hamiltonian. In particular, using perturbation theory for general (non Hermitian) matrices we obtain analytically how a specific $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry breaking Hamiltonian term destroys the BTC phase in the model. Based on these results we define a $d=4$ model composed of a pair of collective $2$-level systems interacting with each other. We show that this model support richer dynamical phases, ranging from limit-cycles, period-doubling bifurcations and a route to chaotic dynamics. The BTC phase is more robust in this case, not annihilated by the former symmetry breaking Hamiltonian terms. The model with collective $d=3$-level systems is defined similarly, as competing pairs of levels, but sharing a common collective level. The dynamics can deviate significantly from the previous cases, supporting phases with the coexistence of multiple limit-cycles, closed orbits and a full degeneracy of zero Lyapunov exponents., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures

We introduce a framework for the construction of completely positive maps for subsystems of indistinguishable fermionic particles. In this scenario, the initial global state is always correlated, and it is not possible to tell system and environment apart. Nonetheless, a reduced map in the operator sum representation is possible for some sets of states where the only non-classical correlation present is exchange., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. In this new version we eliminated a section with a mistaken definition of mutual information for indistinguishable particles, which was not relevant for the main argument of our paper

We obtain the analytical expression for the Kraus decomposition of the quantum map of an environment modeled by an arbitrary quadratic fermionic Hamiltonian acting on one or two qubits, and derive simple functions to check the non-positivity of the intermediate map. These functions correspond to two different sufficient criteria for non-Markovianity. In the particular case of an environment represented by the Ising Hamiltonian, we discuss the two sources of non-Markovianity in the model, one due to the finite size of the lattice, and another due to the kind of interactions., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures