Introduction
摘要
The introduction chapter puts in its historical and current contexts the field of open quantum system theory. The timeline of the main results of the field is recalled, stressing the practical limitations that have been overcome in the recent years thank to new computational tools such as tensor networks. The relevance of the theory of open quantum systems for the study and development of quantum technologies is explained. The seminal (and debated!) experimental results, as well as the questions raised by the nascent field of quantum biology are presented. The fundamental connections between the problems encountered in the field of quantum technologies and in quantum biology are highlighted.