1996/09/30 by I. Joichi, Sh. Matsumoto, M. Yoshimura · 2 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #cond-mat #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.57.798
published as Phys.Rev. A57 (1998) 798 · 19 pages, LATEX file. Substantially expanded and revised for publication, including more complete description of application to unstable particle decay in thermal medium. Some minor mistake of numerical factors corrected
arxiv created 1997/09/02 · openalex publication_date 1998/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Quantum dissipation in a thermal environment is investigated, using the path-integral approach. The reduced density matrix of the harmonic oscillator system coupled to a thermal bath of oscillators is derived for an arbitrary spectrum of bath oscillators. Time evolution and the end point of the two-body decay of unstable particles are then elucidated: After early transient times unstable particles undergo the exponential decay, followed by the power-law decay and finally ending in a mixed state of residual particles containing contributions from both on and off the mass shell, whose abundance does not suffer from the Boltzmann suppression.