Quantum Fermi's Golden Rule

2007/02/26 by Fausto Rossi, Rossi, Fausto
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum many-body systems

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0702233

openalex publication_date 2007/02/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We shall revisit the conventional adiabatic or Markov approximation, showing its intrinsic failure in describing the proper quantum-mechanical evolution of a generic subsystem interacting with its environment. In particular, we shall show that -contrary to the semiclassical case- the Markov limit does not preserve the positive-definite character of the corresponding density matrix, thus leading to highly non-physical results. To overcome this problem, we shall propose an alternative adiabatic procedure which (i) in the semiclassical limit reduces to the standard Fermi's golden rule, and (ii) describes a genuine Limblad evolution, thus providing a reliable/robust treatment of energy-dissipation and dephasing processes.

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