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Physical Review A

Approach to equilibrium of a quantum-mechanical system

Robert D. Carlitz, R. Chakrabarti

Published Apr 1, 1987• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A path-integral formalism is used to describe a quantum system weakly coupled to a heat bath. The heat bath is described by a set of harmonic oscillators, which can be integrated out of the functional integral. The remaining functional integral shows how the quantum system approaches thermal equilibrium.
DOI
10.1103/physreva.35.3156

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