Matrix product density operators: simulation of finite-temperature and dissipative systems.

We show how to simulate numerically the evolution of 1D quantum systems under dissipation as well as in thermal equilibrium. The method applies to both finite and inhomogeneous systems, and it is based on two ideas: (a) a representation for density operators which extends that of matrix product states to mixed states; (b) an algorithm to approximate the evolution (in real or imaginary time) of matrix product states which is variational.