Decay of correlations. IV. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a rapid decay of correlations

Abstract

We considerN-particle systems whose probability distributions obey the master equation. For these systems, we derive the necessary and sufficient conditions under which the reducedn-particle (n<N) probabilities also obey master equations and under which the Ursell functions decay to their equilibrium values faster than the probability distributions. These conditions impose restrictions on the form of the transition rate matrix and thus on the form of its eigenfunctions. We first consider systems in which the eigenfunctions of theN-particle transition rate matrix are completely factorized and demonstrate that for such systems, the reduced probabilities obey master equations and the Ursell functions decay rapidly if certain additional conditions are imposed. As an example of such a system, we discuss a random walk ofN pairwise interacting walkers. We then demonstrate that for systems whoseN-particle transition matrix can be written as a sum of one-particle, two-particle, etc. contributions, and for which the reduced probabilities obey master equations, the reduced master equations become, in the thermodynamic limit, those for independent particles, which have been discussed by us previously. As an example of suchN-particle systems, we discuss the relaxation of a gas of interacting harmonic oscillators.