Irreversible evolution of many-electron systems: From the quantum-Boltzmann equation toward the semi-classical Boltzmann equation

Abstract

Starting from the quantum-Boltzmann equation derived in a previous paper, we study the irreversible evolution of an electron gas in the one-particle phase space. The connection with phase space is established by expressing one-electron states in terms of the overcomplete and nonorthogonal generating system of coherent states. By using the generalized closure relation for coherent states, as well as the fact that a one-particle operator is completely determined by the ensemble of expectation values for all coherent states, we obtain the master equations in a form that allows us to follow the evolution in phase space. This form of the master equations provides a direct link between the quantum-statistical approach and the semi-classical Boltzmann equation. The latter is obtained after a coarse-graining procedure in the one-particle phase space and by using the fact that the electron-electron interaction, as well as the interactions between the electron gas and the bath subsystems provided by phonons or photons, are local in real space.