A systematic derivation of exact generalized Brownian motion theory

Abstract

We present here a simple unified derivation of the exact Fokker-Planck equation obtained earlier by Zwanzig and the exact Langevin and transport equations derived by Mori. The derivation, based on the use of a Hilbert space formulation of the dynamics, leads to substantial generalizations of these results in a straightforward manner. We obtain nonlinear Langevin equations for classical systems and discuss the extension of the theory to driven transport and to quantum dynamics based either on the use of density matrices or Γ-space densities as suggested by Wigner. Remaining limitations of the theory are pointed out.