Instabilities in thermal baths

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Abstract
The theory of relaxation processes is reviewed starting from first principles. The resulting equations of motion describing the temporal behavior of two subsystems—dynamic and dissipative—are discussed. In existing theories the dissipative system or a thermal bath is assumed to be in thermal equilibrium all the time. The basic aim of this paper is a derivation of the instability conditions of the thermal bath. For this purpose two specific models are examined. One is an ensemble of inhomogeneously broadened two-level systems coupled with harmonic excitations (phonons) and the other is the ensemble of homogeneously broadened two-level systems interacting with a phonon bath. Possible implications, including biological ones, of the derived instability conditions are mentioned.

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