Abstract. The Lindblad master equation for an arbitrary quadratic system of n fermions is solved explicitly in terms of diagonalization of a 4n×4n matrix, provided that all Lindblad bath operators are linear in the fermionic variables. The method is applied to the explicit construction of non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) and the calculation of asymptotic relaxation rates in the far from equilibrium problem of heat and spin transport in a nearest neighbour Heisenberg XY spin-1/2 chain in a transverse magnetic field.

Received 7 January 2008
Published 15 April 2008