In this paper, a new representation of the Wigner function for a quantum system in the phase space is proposed. The new representation is of the form
W=Sp[ρW], where
ρ is the density matrix, and
W is the universal density matrix. The density matrix
ρ for each quantum system is different, and the universal matrix
W is the same for any quantum system. Thus, the matrix
W has a fundamental character. In the work, the elements of the universal matrix
W were found explicitly and their properties were investigated. The diagonal elements of the matrix
W are the Wigner functions of the harmonic oscillator, which do not introduce dissipation into the quantum system. The off-diagonal elements of the matrix
W contain frequency oscillations responsible for dissipations in the quantum systems.
The Husimi function provides a phase-space view of quantum systems. This paper considers a number of its properties, including ways in which it can be expanded in terms of basis functions. A spectral or ‘‘natural’’ expansion and an expansion analogous to the Carlson–Keller expansion in terms of coordinate-density momentum-density products are considered, as is a method for separating the angular dependence of the momentum. There is a set of functions in phase space having the same overlap properties as the initial orbital basis in terms of which the charge density matrix is expressed. A Husimi matrix is defined and a scalar product in the space containing such matrices as elements is introduced. The connection with the vector space of density matrices is examined. The Husimi function is related to the Husimi matrix in a way analogous to the relationship between a density matrix and a density, but there is a major difference in that this map can always be inverted. For a harmonic oscillator basis the phase space basis functions, in terms of which the Husimi function is expressed, span a linear space but do not provide a complete set; their products provide a linearly independent set that is complete. It is suggested that similar behavior can be expected for other basis sets.
We study the time evolution of the density matrix of a high energy quark in the presence of a dense QCD background that is modeled as a stochastic Gaussian color field. At late times, we find that only the color singlet component of the quark's reduced density matrix survives the in-medium evolution and that the density matrix becomes asymptotically diagonal in both transverse position and momentum spaces. In addition, we observe an accelerated entropy growth due to the larger phase space being explored by the quark and that the quantum and classical quark entropies converge at late times. We further observe that the quark state loses all memory of the initial condition. Combined with the fact that the reduced density matrix satisfies Boltzmann-diffusion transport, we conclude that the quark reduced density matrix can be interpreted as a classical phase space distribution.