Journal of Mathematical Physics
A kinetic formulation of the three-dimensional quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator under a random perturbation
Ioannis M. Besieris, Wojciech B. Stasiak, F. D. Tappert
Abstract
The behavior of a three-dimensional, nonrelativistic, quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator is investigated under the influence of three distinct types of randomly fluctuating potential fields. Specifically, kinetic (or transport) equations are derived for the corresponding stochastic Wigner equation (the exact equation of evolution of the phase-space Wigner distribution density function) and the stochastic Liouville equation (correspondence limit approximation) using two closely related statistical techniques, the first-order smoothing and the long-time Markovian approximations. Several physically important averaged observables are calculated in special cases. In the absence of a deterministic inhomogeneous potential field (randomly perturbed, freely propagating particle), the results reduce to those reported previously by Besieris and Tappert.