Equations for correlation functions in nonequilibrium systems are derived using a generalization of the diagrammatic Keldysh method. The four field operators of the correlation function are ordered on a time contour that consists of four axes extending from -\ensuremath{\infty} to +\ensuremath{\infty} and from +\ensuremath{\infty} to -\ensuremath{\infty} (doubled Keldysh contour). For those correlation functions that may be considered as correlation functions of one-particle Green-functions' fluctuations, a closed system of equations is obtained in the case of weak interaction of the particles with the scattering system. Its structure may be related to the Langevin approach: on the left-hand side a linear operator acts on each of two pairs of the correlation-function arguments, each of these two operators being just the operator of the linearized quantum kinetic equation. The expression for the right-hand side of this equation is derived. It has the meaning of the correlation function of extraneous Langevin sources, and the equation may be called the quantum Boltzmann-Langevin equation. In the quasi-classical limit it reduces to the usual Boltzmann-Langevin equation for the particles' distribution-function fluctuations. Possible applications of the method are discussed.
Equations for correlation functions in nonequilibrium systems are derived using a generalization of the diagrammatic Keldysh method. The four field operators of the correlation function are ordered on a time contour that consists of four axes extending from -\ensuremath{\infty} to +\ensuremath{\infty} and from +\ensuremath{\infty} to -\ensuremath{\infty} (doubled Keldysh contour). For those correlation functions that may be considered as correlation functions of one-particle Green-functions' fluctuations, a closed system of equations is obtained in the case of weak interaction of the particles with the scattering system. Its structure may be related to the Langevin approach: on the left-hand side a linear operator acts on each of two pairs of the correlation-function arguments, each of these two operators being just the operator of the linearized quantum kinetic equation. The expression for the right-hand side of this equation is derived. It has the meaning of the correlation function of extraneous Langevin sources, and the equation may be called the quantum Boltzmann-Langevin equation. In the quasi-classical limit it reduces to the usual Boltzmann-Langevin equation for the particles' distribution-function fluctuations. Possible applications of the method are discussed.
We present a Green's-function formalism generalized to treat arbitrary time-dependent systems initially prepared with an arbitrary density matrix. On the basis of a simultaneous expansion of the usual real-time development operator and the density matrix, we define a Green's function ordered along an extended contour. In this way we are able to treat real-time many-particle Green's functions and initial correlations on the same footing. Both can be decomposed by Wick's theorem. Thus we may utilize familiar diagrammatic analysis for evaluating the Green's function, and finally arrive at a generalized Dyson's equation. The Green's function can be represented by a (3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}3) matrix, which includes the Green's functions used in the Feynman, Matsubara, and Keldysh theories, if the corresponding statistical average is taken. From a matrix representation of Dyson's equation, a basic set of five coupled equations is derived, which explicitly shows the corrections to the Keldysh theory due to an arbitrary initial many-particle density matrix.
Recent advances in time-resolved spectroscopies provide increasing access to collective dynamics in correlated quantum materials. However, computing the corresponding nonequilibrium two-particle correlation functions remains a major challenge. Here, by introducing a contour-dependent virtual probe field within the generalized Keldysh formalism, we propose an approach that computes such correlation functions with the vertex corrections essential for describing collective dynamics. In particular, we introduce a linear integral equation that computes the correlation functions without explicitly constructing the four-time vertex kernel, and develop its matrix-free Krylov solver based on quantics tensor trains. Combining our method with nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory, we show that the fluctuation dynamics of the order parameter in a nonequilibrium symmetry-broken state depends significantly on whether vertex corrections are included, and that the fluctuation and its decay time grow near the nonthermal critical point. Our approach thus provides a practical route for evaluating nonequilibrium correlation functions, which are emerging as key observables for characterizing states far from equilibrium.
In this article, we present a concise and self-contained introduction to nonequilibrium statistical mechanics with quantum field theory by considering an ensemble of interacting identical bosons or fermions as an example. Readers are assumed to be familiar with the Matsubara formalism of equilibrium statistical mechanics such as Feynman diagrams, the proper self-energy, and Dyson's equation. The aims are threefold: (i) to explain the fundamentals of nonequilibrium quantum field theory as simple as possible on the basis of the knowledge of the equilibrium counterpart; (ii) to elucidate the hierarchy in describing nonequilibrium systems from Dyson's equation on the Keldysh contour to the Navier-Stokes equation in fluid mechanics via quantum transport equations and the Boltzmann equation; (iii) to derive an expression of nonequilibrium entropy that evolves with time. In stage (i), we introduce nonequilibrium Green's function and the self-energy uniquely on the round-trip Keldysh contour, thereby avoiding possible confusions that may arise from defining multiple Green's functions at the very beginning. We try to present the Feynman rules for the perturbation expansion as simple as possible. In particular, we focus on the self-consistent perturbation expansion with the Luttinger-Ward thermodynamic functional, i.e., Baym's Phi-derivable approximation, which has a crucial property for nonequilibrium systems of obeying various conservation laws automatically. We also show how the two-particle correlations can be calculated within the Phi-derivable approximation, i.e., an issue of how to handle the "Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvons (BBGKY) hierarchy".
The pair distribution function (PDF) is a key quantity for the analysis of correlation effects of a quantum system both in equilibrium and far from equilibrium. We derive an expression for the PDF in terms of the single-particle Green functions—the solutions of the Keldysh/Kadanoff-Baym equations in the two-time plane—for a one- or two-component system. The result includes initial correlations and generalizes previous density matrix expressions from single-time quantum kinetic theory. Explicit expressions for the PDF are obtained in second Born approximation.
The aim of this paper is twofold: to probe the statistical mechanical properties of interacting quantum fields, and to provide a field theoretical justification for a stochastic source term in the Boltzmann equation. We start with the formulation of quantum field theory in terms of the set of Schwinger-Dyson equations for the correlation functions, which we describe by a closed-time-path master $(n=\ensuremath{\infty}\mathrm{PI})$ effective action. When the hierarchy is simply truncated to a certain order, one obtains the usual closed system of correlation functions up to that order, and from the nPI effective action, a set of time-reversal invariant equations of motion. (This is the Dyson equation, the quantum field theoretical parallel of the collisionless Boltzmann equation.) But when the effect of the higher order correlation functions is included through a causal factorization condition (such as the molecular chaos assumption in Boltzmann's theory) called slaving, the dynamics of the lower order correlations shows dissipative features, as familiar in the usual (dissipative yet noiseless) Boltzmann equation, the field-theoretical version of which being the dissipative Dyson equations. We show that a fluctuation-dissipation relation should exist for such effectively open systems, and use this fact to show that a stochastic term, which explicitly introduces quantum fluctuations in the lower order correlation functions, necessarily accompanies the dissipative term. This leads to a stochastic Dyson equation, which is the quantum field theoretic parallel of the classical Boltzmann-Langevin equation, encompassing both the dissipative and stochastic dynamics of correlation functions.
The quantum Boltzmann equation (QBE), originally formulated as the quantum extension of Boltzmann’s classical transport theory by Uehling and Uhlenbeck and subsequently developed within the nonequilibrium Green-function formalisms of Kadanoff–Baym and Keldysh, provides the central kinetic framework for describing relaxation and transport in weakly interacting quantum many-body systems. Although its formal structure is well established, conventional derivations often obscure the microscopic equivalence between operator and nonequilibrium Green-function approaches. Wick factorization is typically applied without explicitly enumerating real-time contractions, while Green-function treatments encode the same physics in Born-level self-energies that conceal their operator origin. In this paper, we present a pedagogical microscopic derivation of the quantum Boltzmann equation that makes this equivalence fully explicit. Starting from the ladder-operator formulation, we enumerate all fifteen Wick pairings of the second-order six-field correlator, identifying three Hartree–Fock contributions and twelve real-time Born scattering channels generated by a quartic, number-conserving interaction Hamiltonian. We then establish a one-to-one correspondence between these twelve operator contractions and the Keldysh components of the second-order Born self-energy, demonstrating explicitly how the Uehling–Uhlenbeck collision integral emerges after Wigner transformation and quasiparticle projection. Under controlled Born–Markov and quasiparticle approximations, this work offers a transparent synthesis of operator and Green-function formulations, and clarifies how kinetic fluctuations can be understood as emergent under coarse-graining.