Quantum Dissipation and Decay in Medium

Abstract

Quantum dissipation in thermal environment is investigated, using the path integral approach. The reduced density matrix of the harmonic oscillator system coupled to thermal bath of oscillators is derived for arbitrary spectrum of bath oscillators. Time evolution and the end point of two-body decay of unstable particles is then elucidated: After early transient times unstable particles undergo the exponential decay, followed by the power law decay and finally ending in a mixed state of residual particles containing contributions from both on and off the mass shell, whose abundance does not suffer from the Boltzmann suppression.