Secular versus nonsecular Redfield dynamics and Fano coherences in incoherent excitation: An experimental proposal

Open quantum systems interacting with a thermal environment are formally treated by secular or nonsecular master equations, with the nonsecular equation predicting distinct dynamics with unobserved noise-induced Fano coherences. The authors propose an experimental test to examine the master-equation applicability and the existence of Fano coherences in an atomic system excited by an incoherent light.