High-Temperature Limit Penalizing High-Frequency Quantum Fluctuations
Abstract
We revisit the Caldeira-Leggett model of quantum Brownian motion with Ohmic spectral density, and derive an additional contribution to the decoherence kernel in a new high-temperature limit at arbitrarily large cutoff frequency. This contribution reveals a novel mechanism for the classicalization of high-frequency quantum fluctuations. We further demonstrate that it leads to a Markovian master equation that is in guaranteed Lindblad form, and argue that this master equation describes the correct Markovian limit of quantum Brownian motion. Our approach considers in detail the behavior of the decoherence kernel at both the initial and final times of the process on the timescale of the bath memory.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 137
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 050405–050405
- Publication date
- 26 May 2026
- Language
- EN