W*-Dynamics of Infinite Dissipative Quantum Systems

Abstract

We formulate the dynamics of an infinitely extended open dissipative quantum system, ${\Sigma]$,in the Schroedinger picture.The generic model on which this is based comprises a C*-algebra,$[\cal A}$,of observables, a folium, ${\cal F}$, of states on this algebra and a one parameter semigroup,${\tau}$, of linear transformations of ${\cal F}$ that represents its dynamics and is given by a natural infinite volume limit of the corresponding semigroup for a finite system. On this basis, we establish that the dynamic of ${\Sigma}$ is given by a one parameter semigroup of completely positive transformations of the W*-star algebra dual to ${\cal F}$. This result serves to extend our earlier formulation [1[ of infinitely extended conservative systems to open dissipative ones.