Dissipation in Quantum Mechanics. The Two-Level System

Abstract

The study of a two-level system (TLS) coupled to a loss mechanism (LM), the fluctuations of which are taken into account, is motivated by relating the problem to spin-lattice relaxation, radiation damping, and Brownian motion. A TLS of the electric dipole type (coupled to the LM through one variable only) is discussed first. The problem is formulated in terms of the Pauli spin matrices, and the Langevin equations for Brownian motion of a TLS are derived. Their solution—made possible by taking expectation values in LM space—contains the Weisskopf-Wigner exponential decay formula of radiation theory, as well as a second-order shift in frequency of the TLS produced by the (nondispersive) LM. A driving force is added to the problem and expressions are obtained for a driven lossy TLS of the electric dipole type. The same analysis is applied to a TLS of the magnetic dipole type and differential equations for the spin matrices—for which the expectation values in LM space has been taken—are obtained. Taking expectation values in TLS space converts these equations into the Bloch equations. Unlike the electric dipole case, no frequency shift is present.