Quantum Brownian Motion: Recent Developments

A. O. Caldeira

Aniello Lampo, Miguel Ángel García March, Maciej Lewenstein

G. S. Agarwal

The theory of Brownian motion of a quantum oscillator is developed. The Brownian motion is described by a model Hamiltonian which is taken to be the one describing the interaction between this oscillator and a reservoir. Use is made of the master equation recently derived by the author, to obtain the equation of motion for the various reduced phase-space distribution functions that are obtained by mapping the density operator onto $c$-number functions. The equations of motion for the reduced phase-space distribution functions are found to be of the Fokker-Planck type. On transforming the Fokker-Planck equation to real variables, it is found to have the same form as the Fokker-Planck equation obtained by Wang and Uhlenbeck to describe the Brownian motion of a classical oscillator. The Fokker-Planck equation is solved for the conditional probability (Green's function) which is found to be in the form of a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution. This solution is then used to obtain various time-dependent quantum statistical properties of the oscillator. Next, the entropy for a quantum oscillator undergoing Brownian motion is calculated and we show that this system approaches equilibrium as $t\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$. Finally we show that in the weak-coupling limit the Fokker-Planck equation reduces to the one obtained by making the usual rotating-wave approximation.

Aniello Lampo, Miguel Ángel García March, Maciej Lewenstein

Aurélien Drezet

The pilot wave interpretation proposed by de Broglie and later by Bohm contains not only a dynamical ontology but also relies on a statistical assumption known as quantum equilibrium. In this work which follows our recent article [1] we develop a Langevin force description of the relaxation process which leads to quantum equilibrium. Based on a application of the Caldera-Leggett model for a thermal bath we show how a Brownian motion leads naturally to quantum relaxation.

Vinay Ambegaokar