Sudden representation and sudden approximation quantal generalized master equation

Abstract

The application of the sudden approximation in the derivation of a quantal generalized master equation (GME) is examined. Two different types of physical systems are considered. One is a composite system comprised of a fast primary system and slow bath compared to the time the former is coupled to the latter. The other is a composite system comprised of a slow primary system and fast bath. The resulting sudden GME’s for both cases contain non-Markovian memory kernels. In the second case, the memory kernel can be further approximated by a Markovian form. The resulting Markovian-sudden GME is identical to the GME obtained by using the adiabatic elimination method for removing the (fast) stochastic bath coordinates. Using a representation of the Schrödinger propagator for the density operator analogous to the recently developed (energy) sudden representation of the Schrödinger propagator for the wave function, the exact GME is recast into a form such that when the memory kernel and the inhomogeneity term of the equation are expanded in a perturbation series, the zeroth order equation is in the sudden approximation form. Finally, a harmonic oscillator coupled linearly to a bath of harmonic oscillators is used as an illustration. The behavior of the bath correlation functions in the Markovian and the sudden limits is examined. The reduction of the exact GME to the sudden approximation form is also considered.