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We study the non-linear quantum master equation describing a laser under the mean field approximation. The quantum system is formed by a single mode optical cavity and two level atoms, which interact with reservoirs. Namely, we establish the existence and uniqueness of the regular solution to the non-linear operator equation under consideration, as well as we get a probabilistic representation for this solution in terms of a mean field stochastic Schröndiger equation. To this end, we find a regular solution for the non-autonomous linear quantum master equation in Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad form, and we prove the uniqueness of the solution to the non-autonomous linear adjoint quantum master equation in Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad form. Moreover, we obtain rigorously the Maxwell-Bloch equations from the mean field laser equation.

We study the quantum open system evolution described by a Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad generator with creation and annihilation operators arising in Fock representations of the $sl_2$ Lie algebra. We show that any initial density matrix evolves to a fully supported density matrix and converges towards a unique equilibrium state. We show that the convergence is exponentially fast and we exactly compute the rate for a wide range of parameters. We also discuss the connection with the two-photon absorption and emission process.

We deal with the dynamical system properties of a Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad (GKSL) equation with mean-field Hamiltonian that models a simple laser by applying a mean field approximation to a quantum system describing a single-mode optical cavity and a set of two level atoms, each coupled to a reservoir. We prove that the mean field quantum master equation has a unique regular stationary solution. In case a relevant parameter $C_\mathfrak{b} $, i.e., the cavity cooperative parameter, is less than $1$, we prove that any regular solution converges exponentially fast to the equilibrium, and so the regular stationary state is a globally asymptotically stable equilibrium solution. We obtain that a locally exponential stable limit cycle is born at the regular stationary state as $C_\mathfrak{b} $ passes through the critical value $1$. Then, the mean-field laser equation has a Poincaré-Andronov-Hopf bifurcation at $C_\mathfrak{b} =1 $ of supercritical-like type. Namely, we derive rigorously, at the level of density matrices --for the first time--, the transition from a global attractor quantum state, where the light is not emitted, to a locally stable set of coherent quantum states producing coherent light. Moreover, we establish the local exponential stability of the limit cycle in case a relevant parameter is between the first and second laser thresholds appearing in the semiclassical laser theory. Thus, we get that the coherent laser light persists over time under this condition. In order to prove the exponential convergence of the quantum state, we develop a new technique for proving the exponential convergence in open quantum systems that is based in a new variation of constant formula. Applying our main results we find the long-time behavior of the von Neumann entropy, the photon-number statistics, and the quantum variance of the quadratures.

We show that, for a Quantum Markov Semigroup (QMS) with a faithful normal invariant state, the atomicity of the decoherence-free subalgebra and environmental decoherence are equivalent. Moreover, we characterize the set of reversible states and explicitly describe the relationship between the decoherence-free subalgebra and the fixed point subalgebra for QMSs with the above equivalent properties.

A quantum Markov semigroup can be represented via classical diffusion processes solving a stochastic Schrödinger equation. In this paper we first prove that a quantum Markov semigroup is irreducible if and only if classical diffusion processes are total in the Hilbert space of the system. Then we study the relationship between irreducibility of a quantum Markov semigroup and properties of these diffusions such as accessibility, the Lie algebra rank condition, and irreducibility. We prove that all these properties are, in general, weaker than irreducibility of the quantum Markov semigroup, nevertheless, they are equivalent for some important classes of semigroups.

An invariant state of a quantum Markov semigroup is an equilibrium state if it satisfies a quantum detailed balance condition. In this paper, we introduce a notion of entropy production for faithful normal invariant states of a quantum Markov semigroup on B(h) as a numerical index measuring "how much far" they are from equilibrium. The entropy production is defined as the derivative of the relative entropy of the one-step forward and backward evolution in analogy with the classical probabilistic concept. We prove an explicit trace formula expressing the entropy production in terms of the completely positive part of the generator of a norm continuous quantum Markov semigroup showing that it turns out to be zero if and only if a standard quantum detailed balance condition holds.

We study stochastic evolution equations describing the dynamics of open quantum systems. First, using resolvent approximations, we obtain a sufficient condition for regularity of solutions to linear stochastic Schroedinger equations driven by cylindrical Brownian motions applying to many physical systems. Then, we establish well-posedness and norm conservation property of a wide class of open quantum systems described in position representation. Moreover, we prove Ehrenfest-type theorems that describe the evolution of the mean value of quantum observables in open systems. Finally, we give a new criterion for existence and uniqueness of weak solutions to non-linear stochastic Schroedinger equations. We apply our results to physical systems such as fluctuating ion traps and quantum measurement processes of position.

In this article we try to bridge the gap between the quantum dynamical semigroup and Wigner function approaches to quantum open systems. In particular we study stationary states and the long time asymptotics for the quantum Fokker-Planck equation. Our new results apply to open quantum systems in a harmonic confinement potential, perturbed by a (large) sub-quadratic term.

We solve, mainly by counterexamples, many natural questions regarding maximal commutative subalgebras invariant under CP-maps or semigroups of CP-maps on a von Neumann algebra. In particular, we discuss the structure of the generators of norm continuous semigroups on B(G) leaving a maximal commutative subalgebra invariant and show that there exists Markov CP-semigroups on M_d without invariant maximal commutative subalgebras for any d>2.

For a quantum Markov semigroup $\T$ on the algebra $\B$ with a faithful invariant state $\rho$, we can define an adjoint $\widetilde{\T}$ with respect to the scalar product determined by $\rho$. In this paper, we solve the open problems of characterising adjoints $\widetilde{\T}$ that are also a quantum Markov semigroup and satisfy the detailed balance condition in terms of the operators $H,L_k$ in the Gorini Kossakowski Sudarshan Lindblad representation $\Ll(x)=i[H,x] - {1/2}\sum_k(L^*_kL_k x-2L^*_kxL_k + xL^*_kL_k)$ of the generator of $\T$. We study the adjoint semigroup with respect to both scalar products $<a,b> = \tr(\rho a^* b)$ and $<a,b> = \tr(\rho^{1/2} a^* \rho^{1/2}b)$.

We give a necessary and sufficient criterion when a normal CP-map on a von Neumann algebra admits a restriction to a maximal commutative subalgebra. We apply this result to give a far reaching generalization of Rebolledo's sufficient criterion for the Lindblad generator of a Markov semigroup on B(G).

The conservativity of a minimal quantum dynamical semigroup is proved whenever there exists a ``reference'' subharmonic operator bounded from below by the dissipative part of the infinitesimal generator. We discuss applications of this criteria in mathematical physics and quantum probability.