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Axiomatic construction of quantum Langevin equations

Statistical Mechanics 2019-05-21 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

A phenomenological construction of quantum Langevin equations, based on the physical criteria of (i) the canonical equal-time commutators, (ii) the Kubo formula, (iii) the virial theorem and (iv) the quantum fluctuation-dissipation theorem is presented. The case of a single harmonic oscillator coupled to a large external bath is analysed in detail. This allows to distinguish a markovian semi-classical approach, due to Bedeaux and Mazur, from a non-markovian full quantum approach, due to to Ford, Kac and Mazur. The quantum-fluctuation-dissipation theorem is seen to be incompatible with a markovian dynamics. Possible applications to the quantum spherical model are discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1809.08975,
  title  = {Axiomatic construction of quantum Langevin equations},
  author = {Rúbia Araújo and Sascha Wald and Malte Henkel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.08975},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

1 + 33 pages, 4 figures. Major revision. J. Stat. Mech at press

R2 v1 2026-06-23T04:16:30.227Z