Wave functions for open quantum systems and stochastic Schrodinger equations

Abstract

It is shown that evolution of an open quantum system can be exactly described in terms of wave function which obeys Schrodinger equation with randomly varying parameters whose statistics is universally determined by separate dynamics of the system's environment. Corresponding stochastic evolution of the wave function is unitary on average, and this property implies optical theorem for inelastic scattering as demonstrated by the example of one-dimensional conducting channel with thermally fluctuating potential perturbation.