Read more
The classical theory of Brownian motion is generalized so as to reckon with non-Markovian effects. This non-Markovian approach is also extended to look at anomalous diffusion. Next, we bring in the dynamical-quantization method for investigating open quantum systems, which does consist in quantizing the classical Brownian motion starting directly from our non-Markovian Klein-Kramers and Smoluchowski equations, without alluding to any model Hamiltonian. As far as the special case of a heat bath comprising of quantum harmonic oscillators is concerned, a non-Markovian Caldeira-Leggett quantum master equation and a thermal quantum Smoluchowski equation are derived and extended to bosonic and fermionic heat baths valid for all temperatures T 0. Quantum anomalous diffusion and the phenomenon of tunneling of a quantum Brownian particle are investigated, too. We point out that our theoretical predictions uphold the view that our non-Hamiltonian quantum mechanics is able to fathom novel features inherent in quantum Brownian motion, thereby overcoming some shortcomings underlying the usual Hamiltonian approach to open quantum systems.
About the author
A. O. Bolivar was born in Brazil. He obtained his Ph.D in Physics fom the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Física in Rio de Janeiro. He has subsequently held post-doc positions in Brazil (Unicamp and UFMG), as well as in Germany (Institute for Theoretical Physics- University of Stuttgart). His main research interest is quantum Brownian Motion.
