Thermalization of linear Fermi systems

The issue of thermalization in open quantum systems is explored from the perspective of fermion models with quadratic couplings and linear baths. Both the thermodynamic state and the stationary solution of the Lindblad equation are rendered as a matrix-product sequence following a reformulation in terms of underlying algebras, allowing to characterize a family of stationary solutions and determine the cases where they correspond to thermal states. This characterization provides insight into the operational mechanisms that lead the system to thermalization and their interplay with mechanisms that tend to drive it out of thermal equilibrium.