Decoherence through Spin Chains: Toy Model

The description of the dynamics of closed quantum systems, governed by the Schroedinger equation at first sight seems incompatible with the Lindblad equation describing open ones. By analyzing closed dynamics of a spin-1/2 chain we reconstruct exponential decays characteristic for the latter model. We identify all necessary ingredients to efficiently model this behavior, such as an infinitely large environment and the coupling to the system weak in comparison to the internal couplings in the bath.