Classical and Quantum Langevin Equations

Toshihico Arimitsu

Wen Wan

The properties of quantum noise and Langevin equation are discussed. Comparisons between the quantum noise and Langevin eqution and the classic one are presented. A brief derivation for quantum Langevin equation is showed. The quantum noise comes from two ways, namely, the way as same as that of classic noise and the Heisenberg uncertainty.

Crispin W. Gardiner, P. Zoller

Crispin W. Gardiner

J. Frenkel, Jason Taylor

The validity of the Langevin equation (both classical and quantum) is studied in cases when not all the equations of motion are linear. In particular, a model is studied in which the interaction is bilinear in the environment variables. We conclude that the equation is valid only for frequencies close to the frequency of the system alone. If the equation of motion of the system alone is nonlinear, we are unable to find a condition for the validity of the Langevin equation.

Emilio Cortés, Bruce J. West, Katja Lindenberg

The generalized Langevin equation and its attendant fluctuation–dissipation relation (FDR) for both classical and quantum systems is explictly derived for a large class of system-bath interaction potentials. We demonstrate for this class of potentials that the classical FDR involving only the temperature of the bath is satisfied, and that in general the decay times of the dissipative processes and of the system are temperature dependent. We also demonstrate that the quantum FDR depends in detail on the nature of the bath and on the specific system-bath interaction. Thus we conclude that while the classical Langevin equation is phenomenologically useful, its quantum counterpart is much more limited.