N G van Kampen 1981 Amsterdam: North-Holland xiv + 419 pp price Dfl 180 This is a book which, at a lower price, could be expected to become an essential part of the library of every physical scientist concerned with problems involving fluctuations and stochastic processes, as well as those who just enjoy a beautifully written book. It provides an extensive graduate-level introduction which is clear, cautious, interesting and readable.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9112/34/4/040/pdf

Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry

This is a collection of references (papers, books, preprints, book reviews, Ph. D. thesis, patents, web sites, etc.), sorted alphabetically and (some of them) classified by subject, on foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum information. Specifically, it covers hidden variables (``no-go'' theorems, experiments), interpretations of quantum mechanics, entanglement, quantum effects (quantum Zeno effect, quantum erasure, ``interaction-free'' measurements, quantum ``non-demolition'' measurements), quantum information (cryptography, cloning, dense coding, teleportation), and quantum computation.

/pdf/bibliographic-guide-to-the-foundations-of-quantum-mechanics-5bg1n4o4cz.pdf

Bibliographic guide to the foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum information

Stochastic Schr\"odinger equations for quantum trajectories offer an alternative and sometimes superior approach to the study of open quantum system dynamics. Here we show that recently established convolutionless non-Markovian stochastic Schr\"odinger equations may serve as a powerful tool for the derivation of convolutionless master equations for non-Markovian open quantum systems. The most interesting example is quantum Brownian motion (QBM) of a harmonic oscillator coupled to a heat bath of oscillators, one of the most employed exactly soluble models of open system dynamics. We show explicitly how to establish the direct connection between the exact convolutionless master equation of QBM and the corresponding convolutionless exact stochastic Schr\"odinger equation.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0312103.pdf

Convolutionless Non-Markovian master equations and quantum trajectories: Brownian motion

We study the non-Markovian dynamics of a two-mode bosonic system interacting with two uncorrelated thermal bosonic reservoirs. We present the solution to the exact microscopic Master equation in terms of the quantum characteristic function and study in detail the dynamics of entanglement for bipartite Gaussian states. In particular, we analyze the effects of short-time system-reservoir correlations on the separability thresholds and show that the relevant parameter is the reservoir spectral density. If the frequencies of the involved modes are within the reservoir spectral density, entanglement persists for a longer time than in a Markovian channel. On the other hand, when the reservoir spectrum is out of resonance, short-time correlations lead to a faster decoherence and to the appearance of entanglement oscillations.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0702055.pdf

Entanglement oscillations in non-Markovian quantum channels

For the description of dynamical effects in quantum mechanical systems on ultrashort time scales, memory effects play an important role. Meier and Tannor [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 3365 (1999)] developed an approach which is based on a time-nonlocal scheme employing a numerical decomposition of the spectral density. Here we propose two different approaches which are based on a partial time-ordering prescription, i.e., a time-local formalism and also on a numerical decomposition of the spectral density. In special cases such as the Debye spectral density the present scheme can be employed even without the numerical decomposition of the spectral density. One of the proposed schemes is valid for time-independent Hamiltonians and can be given in a compact quantum master equation. In the case of time-dependent Hamiltonians one has to introduce auxiliary operators which have to be propagated in time along with the density matrix. For the example of a damped harmonic oscillator these non-Markovian theories are compared among each other, to the Markovian limit neglecting memory effects and time dependencies, and to exact path integral calculations. Good agreement between the exact calculations and the non-Markovian results is obtained. Some of the non-Markovian theories mentioned above treat the time dependence in the system Hamiltonians nonperturbatively. Therefore these methods can be used for the simulation of experiments with arbitrary large laser fields.

Non-Markovian theories based on a decomposition of the spectral density

The Hu-Paz-Zhang equation is a master equation for an oscillator coupled to a linear passive bath. It is exact within the assumption that the oscillator and bath are initially uncoupled. Here an exact general solution is obtained in the form of an expression for the Wigner function at time t in terms of the initial Wigner function. The result is applied to the motion of a Gaussian wave packet and to that of a pair of such wave packets. A serious divergence arising from the assumption of an initially uncoupled state is found to be due to the zero-point oscillations of the bath and not removed in a cutoff model. As a consequence, worthwhile results for the equation can only be obtained in the high temperature limit, where zero-point oscillations are neglected. In that limit closed form expressions for wave packet spreading and attenuation of coherence are obtained. These results agree within a numerical factor with those appearing in the literature, which apply for the case of a particle at zero temperature that is suddenly coupled to a bath at high temperature. On the other hand very different results are obtained for the physically consistent case in which the initial particle temperature is arranged to coincide with that of the bath.

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Exact solution of the Hu-Paz-Zhang master equation

Distribution functions defined in accordance with the quantum theory of measurement are combined with results obtained from the quantum Langevin equation to discuss decoherence in quantum Brownian motion. Closed form expressions for wave packet spreading and the attenuation of coherence of a pair of wave packets are obtained. The results are exact within the context of linear passive dissipation. It is shown that, contrary to widely accepted current belief, decoherence can occur at high temperature in the absence of dissipation. Expressions for the decoherence time with and without dissipation are obtained that differ from those appearing in earlier discussions.

/pdf/quantum-measurement-and-decoherence-4hyx05azao.pdf

Quantum measurement and decoherence

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/~amarti9/adfjalsdfjkasdfklj/255.%20Master%20Equation%20for%20an%20Oscillator%20Coupled%20to%20the%20Electromagnetic%20Field.pdf

Master Equation for an Oscillator Coupled to the Electromagnetic Field

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/~amarti9/PDFfiles.sav/265.%20Driven%20Systems%20and%20the%20Lax%20Formula.pdf

Driven systems and the Lax formula

A Comment on the Letter by S. Gao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 3101 (1997). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply.

G. W. Ford

Papers

Exact solution of the Hu-Paz-Zhang master equation

Quantum measurement and decoherence

Master Equation for an Oscillator Coupled to the Electromagnetic Field

Driven systems and the Lax formula

Comment on “Dissipative Quantum Dynamics with a Lindblad Functional”