Professor of Physics Emeritus Philip Pearle published “Simple Derivation of the Lindblad Equation” in the July issue of European Journal of Physics.
According to Pearle’s abstract for the paper, “The Lindblad equation is an evolution equation for the density matrix in quantum theory. It is the general linear, Markovian, form which ensures that the density matrix is hermitian, trace 1, positive and completely positive. Some elementary examples of the Lindblad equation are given. The derivation of the Lindblad equation presented here is "simple" in that all it uses is the expression of a hermitian matrix in terms of its orthonormal eigenvectors and real eigenvalues. Thus, it is appropriate for students who have learned the algebra of quantum theory. Where helpful, arguments are first given in a two-dimensional hilbert space.”
European Journal of Physics is published by the European Physical Society (EPS). The EPS website says the international journal is “dedicated to maintaining and improving the standard of taught physics in universities and other higher education institutes.”
