The influence of the initial preparation on dephasing in open quantum dynamics is studied using an exactly solvable model of a two-level system (qubit) interacting with a bosonic bath. It is found that for some classes of non-selective preparation measurements, qubit-bath correlations lead to a significant enhancement of coherence in the qubit at the initial stage of evolution. The time behavior of the qubit purity and entropy in the regime of enhancement of coherence is considered for different temperatures and coupling strengths.

We consider surface diffusion of a single particle, which performs site-to-site underbarrier hopping, fulfils intrasite motion between the ground and the first-excited states within a quantum well, and interacts with surface phonons. We obtain a chain of quantum-kinetic equations for one-particle distribution functions and nonequilibrium hopping probabilities. The generalized diffusion coefficients are derived, and the generic non-Markovian diffusion equation is written down both for the infinite lattice model and in the continuous media limit. In the latter case, the one-particle distribution function obeys the telegrapher's equation, which could give us a nonmonotonic behavior of the intermediate distribution functions at large spatial gradients. In a weak-coupling limit, if the energy of level splitting is comparable with the temperature, there are also pronounced oscillations of the generalized diffusion coefficients. The recrossing/multiple crossing phenomena, a problem of long tails of the generalized diffusion coefficients, as well as a mapping into the next- to the nearest-neighbors hopping regime, are discussed.

We study the bath dynamics in the dephasing model of a two-state quantum system (qubit) coupled to an environment of harmonic oscillators. This model was shown [Morozov et al., Phys. Rev. A, 2012 85, 022101] to admit the analytic solution for the qubit and environment dynamics. Using this solution, we derive the exact expression for the bath reduced density matrix in the presence of initial qubit-environment correlations. We obtain the non-equilibrium phonon distribution function and discuss in detail the time behavior of the bath energy. It is shown that only the inclusion of dynamic correlations between the qubit and the bath ensures the proper time behavior of the quantity which may be interpreted as the "environment energy".

We consider surface diffusion of a single particle, which performs site-to-site under-barrier hopping, fulfils intrasite motion between the ground and the first excited states within a quantum well, and interacts with surface phonons. On the basis of quantum kinetic equations for one-particle distribution functions, we study the coherent and incoherent motion of the adparticle. In the latter case, we derive the generalized diffusion coefficients and study various dynamic regimes of the adparticle. The critical values of the coupling constant G(cr)(T,Ω), which separate domains with possible recrossing from those with the monotonic motion of the adparticle, are calculated as functions of temperature T and vibrational frequency Ω. These domains are found to coincide with the regions where the experimentally observed diffusion coefficients change their behavior from weakly dependent on T to quite a sensitive function of the temperature. We also evaluate the off-diagonal distribution functions both in the Markovian limit and when the memory effects become important. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the "long tails" problem of the generalized diffusion coefficients, the recrossing/multiple crossing phenomena, and an eventual interrelation between the adparticle dynamics at short times and the temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficients measured experimentally.

A general theoretical approach is developed for describing the dynamic properties of semiquantum fluids on the basis of the nonequilibrium statistical operator technique. A set of equations of generalized hydrodynamics is derived and the particular case of thermo-viscoelastic model of a fluid is analyzed in details in the hydrodynamic limit. The case of intermediate and large values of the wave vector is also discussed. The Markov approximation for transport kernels is used to obtain a closed set of equations for dynamic correlation functions. The problem is considered in the context of relation with the experimental data on neutron scattering and the theoretical results known previously in the literature.

A simple ansatz for the study of velocity autocorrelation functions in fluids at different timescales is proposed. The ansatz is based on an effective summation of the infinite continued fraction at a reasonable assumption about convergence of relaxation times of the higher order memory functions, which have a purely kinetic origin. The VAFs obtained within our approach are compared with the results of the Markovian approximation for memory kernels. It is shown that although in the "overdamped" regime both approaches agree to a large extent at the initial and intermediate times of the system evolution, our formalism yields power law relaxation of the VAFs which is not observed at the description with a finite number of the collective modes. Explicit expressions for the transition times from kinetic to hydrodynamic regimes are obtained from the analysis of the singularities of spectral functions in the complex frequency plane.

The dynamic properties of semiquantum He4 are analyzed at two temperatures above the point of superfluid phase transition. Investigations are carried out in the framework of the dynamic thermal viscous model for low and intermediate values of the wave vector. The “momentum–momentum” and “enthalpy–enthalpy” time correlation functions are evaluated and the partial contributions of the collective excitations to these functions are separated. The recurrent relations for memory kernels are used to calculate the time–space dispersion of the generalized transport coefficients.

The master equation for an open quantum system is derived in the weak-coupling approximation when the additional dynamical variable—the mean interaction energy—is included into the generic relevant statistical operator. This master equation is nonlocal in time and involves the “quasi-temperature”, which is a non- equilibrium state parameter conjugated thermodynamically to the mean interaction energy of the composite system. The evolution equation for the quasi-temperature is derived using the energy conservation law. Thus long-living dynamical correlations, which are associated with this conservation law and play an important role in transition to the Markovian regime and subsequent equilibration of the system, are properly taken into account.