Dynamics of the Density Matrix in Contact with a Thermal Bath and the Quantum Master Equation

We study the structure of the time evolution of the density matrix in contact with a thermal bath in a standard projection operator sheme. The reduced density matrix of the system in the steady state is obtained by tracing out the degree of freedom of the thermal bath from the equilibrium density matrix of the total system. This reduced density matrix is modified by the interaction, and is different from that of the equilibrium of the system alone. We explicitly calculate the contribution of each term in quantum master equation to the realization of the steady state density matrix, and make clear roles of each term. By making use of the role of each term, the properties of the commonly used quantum master equation are examined.