Measured quantum probability distribution functions for Brownian motion

Abstract

The quantum analog of the joint probability distributions describing a classical stochastic process is introduced. A prescription is given for constructing the quantum distribution associated with a sequence of measurements. For the case of quantum Brownian motion this prescription is illustrated with a number of explicit examples. In particular it is shown how the prescription can be extended in the form of a general formula for the Wigner function of a Brownian particle entangled with a heat bath.Comment: Phys. Rev. A, in pres