Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 060601 (2006) [4 pages]Master Equation for a Quantum Particle in a GasReceived 15 May 2006; published 7 August 2006 The equation for the quantum motion of a Brownian particle in a gaseous environment is derived by means of S-matrix theory. This quantum version of the linear Boltzmann equation accounts nonperturbatively for the quantum effects of the scattering dynamics and describes decoherence and dissipation in a unified framework. As a completely positive master equation it incorporates both the known equation for an infinitely massive Brownian particle and the classical linear Boltzmann equation as limiting cases. © 2006 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.060601
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.060601
PACS:
05.20.Dd, 03.65.Yz, 03.75.−b, 47.45.Ab
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