Numerical simulation of long-range open quantum many-body dynamics with tree tensor networks

Open quantum systems provide a conceptually simple setting for the exploration of collective behavior stemming from the competition between quantum effects, many-body interactions, and dissipative processes. They may display dynamics distinct from that of closed quantum systems or undergo nonequilibrium phase transitions which are not possible in classical settings. However, studying open quantum many-body dynamics is challenging, in particular, in the presence of critical long-range correlations or long-range interactions. Here, we make progress in this direction and introduce a numerical method for open quantum systems, based on tree tensor networks. Such a structure is expected to improve the encoding of many-body correlations and we adopt an integration scheme suited for long-range interactions and applications to dissipative dynamics. We test the method using a dissipative Ising model with power-law decaying interactions and observe signatures of a first-order phase transition for power-law exponents smaller than 1.