Relation between energy shifts and relaxation rates for a small system coupled to a reservoir
Abstract
For a small system the coupling to a reservoir causes energy shifts as well as transitions between the system's energy levels. We show for a general stationary situation that the energy shifts can essentially be reduced to the relaxation rates. The effects of reservoir fluctuations and self-reaction are treated separately. We apply the results to a two-level atom coupled to a reservoir which may be the vacuum of a radiation field.
- Publication:
-
Physics Letters A
- Pub Date:
- February 1995
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0375-9601(95)00125-M
- arXiv:
- arXiv:quant-ph/9503012
- Bibcode:
- 1995PhLA..199..151A
- Keywords:
-
- Quantum Physics;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, Latex, to appear in Phys. Lett. A