Theory of open quantum dynamics with hybrid noise

We develop a theory to describe dynamics of a non-stationary open quantum system interacting with a hybrid environment, which includes high-frequency and low-frequency noise components. One part of the system-bath interaction is treated in a perturbative manner, whereas the other part is considered exactly. This approach allows us to derive a set of master equations where the relaxation rates are expressed as convolutions of the Bloch-Redfield and Marcus formulas. Our theory enables analysis of systems that have extremely small energy gaps in the presence of a realistic environment. As an illustration, we apply the theory to the 16 qubit quantum annealing problem with dangling qubits (Dickson et al 2013 Nat. Commun. 4 1903) and show qualitative agreement with experimental results.