Master equation of the reduced statistical operator of an atom in a plasma

Abstract

We use the nonequilibrium Liouville equation to derive the master equation for the reduced statistical operator in a heat bath represented by a many-particle environment. Focusing on the case of a weak system-bath coupling, we consider the Born-Markov approximation of the master equation and compare the result to different approaches. The master equation is elaborated for the special case of an atom as a reduced system in a plasma background. We find that the dynamical structure factor determines the effect of the plasma on the reduced system. We consider the operator equation in the atomic eigenstate and in the phase-space representation, which yields two limiting cases: quantum mechanical behavior similar to the isolated atom for the lower strongly bound levels and a semiclassical one for highly excited Rydberg levels.