Abstract
We demonstrate the power of a first principle-based and practicable method that allows for the perturbative computation of reduced density matrix elements of an open quantum system without making use of any master equations. The approach is based on techniques from nonequilibrium quantum field theory such as thermo field dynamics, the Schwinger-Keldsyh formalism, and the Feynman-Vernon influence functional. It does not require the Markov approximation and is essentially a Lehmann-Szymanzik-Zimmermann-like reduction. To illustrate this method, we consider a real scalar field as an open quantum system interacting with an environment comprising another real scalar field. We give a general formula that allows for the perturbative computation of density matrix elements for any number of particles in a momentum basis. Finally, we consider a simple toy model and use this formula to obtain expressions for some of the system’s reduced density matrix elements.
- Received 10 October 2022
- Accepted 8 December 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.107.016005
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society