Quantum analogue of energy equipartition theorem

TL;DR

This paper establishes a quantum analogue of the classical energy equipartition theorem, demonstrating that the mean kinetic energy of a quantum Brownian particle equals that of the thermostat oscillators, using the Caldeira-Leggett model.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum version of the energy equipartition theorem for the Caldeira-Leggett model, connecting the particle's kinetic energy to the thermostat's oscillator energies.

Findings

Proves the quantum equipartition relation using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem.

Shows the relation holds universally for linear and nonlinear systems with bosonic thermostats.

Establishes that the particle's mean kinetic energy equals the average energy of thermostat oscillators.

Abstract

One of the fundamental laws of classical statistical physics is the energy equipartition theorem which states that for each degree of freedom the mean kinetic energy $E_k$ equals $E_k=k_B T/2$, where $k_B$ is the Boltzmann constant and $T$ is temperature of the system. Despite the fact that quantum mechanics has already been developed for more than 100 years still there is no quantum counterpart of this theorem. We attempt to fill this far-reaching gap and consider the simplest system, i.e. the Caldeira-Leggett model for a free quantum Brownian particle in contact with thermostat consisting of an infinite number of harmonic oscillators. We prove that the mean kinetic energy $E_k$ of the Brownian particle equals the mean kinetic energy $\langle \mathcal E_k \rangle$ per one degree of freedom of the thermostat oscillators, i.e. $E_k = \langle \mathcal E_k \rangle$. We show that this relation can be obtained from the fluctuation-dissipation theorem derived within the linear response theory and is universal in the sense that it holds true for any linear and non-linear systems in contact with bosonic thermostat.