This book provides a systematic, self-contained treatment of the theory of quantum probability and quantum Markov processes for graduate students and researchers. Building a framework that parallels the development of classical probability, it aims to help readers up the steep learning curve of the quantum theory.

Quantum stochastic calculus has become an indispensable tool in modern quantum physics, its effectiveness being illustrated by recent developments in quantum control which place the calculus at the heart of the theory. Quantum statistics is rapidly taking shape as an intrinsically quantum counterpart to classical statistics, motivated by advances in quantum engineering and the need for better statistical inference tools for quantum systems.This volume contains a selection of regular research articles and reviews by leading researchers in quantum control, quantum statistics, quantum probability and quantum information. The selection offers a unified view of recent trends in quantum stochastics, highlighting the common mathematical language of Hilbert space operators, and the deep connections between classical and quantum stochastic phenomena.

An Introduction to Quantum Stochastic Calculus aims to deepen our understanding of the dynamics of systems subject to the laws of chance both from the classical and the quantum points of view and stimulate further research in their unification. This is probably the first systematic attempt to weave classical probability theory into the quantum framework and provides a wealth of interesting features: The origin of Ito’s correction formulae for Brownian motion and the Poisson process can be traced to commutation relations or, equivalently, the uncertainty principle. Quantum stochastic integration enables the possibility of seeing new relationships between fermion and boson fields. Many quantum dynamical semigroups as well as classical Markov semigroups are realised through unitary operator evolutions. The text is almost self-contained and requires only an elementary knowledge of operator theory and probability theory at the graduate level. - - - This is an excellent volume which will be a valuable companion both to those who are already active in the field and those who are new to it. Furthermore there are a large number of stimulating exercises scattered through the text which will be invaluable to students. (Mathematical Reviews) This monograph gives a systematic and self-contained introduction to the Fock space quantum stochastic calculus in its basic form (...) by making emphasis on the mathematical aspects of quantum formalism and its connections with classical probability and by extensive presentation of carefully selected functional analytic material. This makes the book very convenient for a reader with the probability-theoretic orientation, wishing to make acquaintance with wonders of the noncommutative probability, and, more specifcally, for a mathematics student studying this field. (Zentralblatt MATH) Elegantly written, with obvious appreciation for fine points of higher mathematics (...) most notable is [the] author's effort to weave classical probability theory into [a] quantum framework. (The American Mathematical Monthly)

The theory of thermodynamics has been one of the bedrocks of 19th-century physics, and thermodynamic problems have inspired Planck's quantum hypothesis. One hundred years later, in an era where we design increasingly sophisticated nanotechnologies, researchers in quantum physics have been 'returning to their roots', attempting to reconcile modern nanoscale devices with the theory of thermodynamics. This textbook explains how it is possible to unify the two opposite pictures of microscopic quantum physics and macroscopic thermodynamics in one consistent framework, proving that the ancient theory of thermodynamics still offers many remarkable insights into present-day problems. This textbook focuses on the microscopic derivation and understanding of key principles and concepts and their interrelation. The topics covered in this book include (quantum) stochastic processes, (quantum) master equations, local detailed balance, classical stochastic thermodynamics, (quantum) fluctuation theorems, strong coupling and non-Markovian effects, thermodynamic uncertainty relations, operational approaches, Maxwell's demon, and time-reversal symmetry, among other topics. The textbook also explores several practical applications of the theory in more detail, including single-molecule pulling experiments, quantum transport and thermoelectric effects in quantum dots, the micromaser, and related setups in quantum optics. The aim of this book is to inspire readers to investigate a plethora of modern nanoscale devices from a thermodynamic point of view, allowing them to address their dissipation, efficiency, reliability, and power based on a conceptually clear understanding about the microscopic origin of heat, entropy, and the second law. The book is accessible to graduate students, post-docs, and lecturers, but will also be of interest to all researchers striving for a deeper understanding of the laws of thermodynamics beyond their traditional realm of applicability.

This book describes the representations of Lie superalgebras that are yielded by a graded version of Hudson-Parthasarathy quantum stochastic calculus. Quantum stochastic calculus and grading theory are given concise introductions, extending readership to mathematicians and physicists with a basic knowledge of algebra and infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. The develpment of an explicit formula for the chaotic expansion of a polynomial of quantum stochastic integrals is particularly interesting. The book aims to provide a self-contained exposition of what is known about Z_2-graded quantum stochastic calculus and to provide a framework for future research into this new and fertile area.

The classical theory of stochastic processes has important applications arising from the need to describe irreversible evolutions in classical mechanics; analogously quantum stochastic processes can be used to model the dynamics of irreversible quantum systems. Noncommutative, i.e. quantum, geometry provides a framework in which quantum stochastic structures can be explored. This book is the first to describe how these two mathematical constructions are related. In particular, key ideas of semigroups and complete positivity are combined to yield quantum dynamical semigroups (QDS). Sinha and Goswami also develop a general theory of Evans-Hudson dilation for both bounded and unbounded coefficients. The unique features of the book, including the interaction of QDS and quantum stochastic calculus with noncommutative geometry and a thorough discussion of this calculus with unbounded coefficients, will make it of interest to graduate students and researchers in functional analysis, probability and mathematical physics.

This monograph takes as starting point that abstract quantum stochastic processes can be understood as a quantum field theory in one space and in one time coordinate. As a result it is appropriate to represent operators as power series of creation and annihilation operators in normal-ordered form, which can be achieved using classical measure theory. Considering in detail four basic examples (e.g. a two-level atom coupled to a heat bath of oscillators), in each case the Hamiltonian of the associated one-parameter strongly continuous group is determined and the spectral decomposition is explicitly calculated in the form of generalized eigen-vectors. Advanced topics include the theory of the Hudson-Parthasarathy equation and the amplified oscillator problem. To that end, a chapter on white noise calculus has also been included.

This second BiBoS volume surveys recent developments in the theory of stochastic processes. Particular attention is given to the interaction between mathematics and physics. Main topics include: statistical mechanics, stochastic mechanics, differential geometry, stochastic proesses, quantummechanics, quantum field theory, probability measures, central limit theorems, stochastic differential equations, Dirichlet forms.

With contributions by numerous experts