Phys. Rev. E 79, 041147 (2009) [12 pages]Structure of completely positive quantum master equations with memory kernelReceived 9 February 2009; published 29 April 2009 Semi-Markov processes represent a well-known and widely used class of random processes in classical probability theory. Here, we develop an extension of this type of non-Markovian dynamics to the quantum regime. This extension is demonstrated to yield quantum master equations with memory kernels which allow the formulation of explicit conditions for the complete positivity of the corresponding quantum dynamical maps, thus leading to important insights into the structural characterization of the non-Markovian quantum dynamics of open systems. Explicit examples are analyzed in detail. © 2009 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.041147
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.79.041147
PACS:
02.50.Ga, 03.65.Yz, 42.50.Lc, 03.65.Ta
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