QUANTUM DISSIPATION AND QUANTUM GROUPS

Abstract

We discuss the r\^ole of quantum deformation of Weyl-Heisenberg algebra in dissipative systems and finite temperature systems. We express the time evolution generator of the damped harmonic oscillator and the generator of thermal Bogolubov transformations in terms of operators of the quantum Weyl-Heisenberg algebra. The quantum parameter acts as a label for the unitarily inequivalent representations of the canonical commutation relations in which the space of the states splits in the infinite volume limit.Comment: to appear in Annals of Physics (N.Y.