  We study the effects of Ohmic, super-Ohmic, and sub-Ohmic dissipation on the
zero-temperature quantum phase transition in the random transverse-field Ising
chain by means of an (asymptotically exact) analytical strong-disorder
renormalization-group approach. We find that Ohmic damping destabilizes the
infinite-randomness critical point and the associated quantum Griffiths
singularities of the dissipationless system. The quantum dynamics of large
magnetic clusters freezes completely which destroys the sharp phase transition
by smearing. The effects of sub-Ohmic dissipation are similar and also lead to
a smeared transition. In contrast, super-Ohmic damping is an irrelevant
perturbation; the critical behavior is thus identical to that of the
dissipationless system. We discuss the resulting phase diagrams, the behavior
of various observables, and the implications to higher dimensions and
experiments.
