Abstract
We suggest a quantum simulator that allows to study the role of memory effects in the dynamics of open quantum systems. Our proposal is based on a bipartite quantum system consisting, for simplicity, of a harmonic oscillator and a few-level system; it exploits the formal analogy between dissipation and quantum measurements. The interaction between the subsystems gives rise to quantum Zeno dynamics, and the dissipation strength experienced by the harmonic oscillator can be tuned by changing the parameters of the measurement, i.e., the interaction with the few-level system. Extension of the proposal to anharmonic systems is straightforward.