Translation-covariant Markovian master equation for a test particle in a quantum fluid

A recently proposed master equation in the Lindblad form is studied with respect to covariance properties and existence of a stationary solution. The master equation describes the interaction of a test particle with a quantum fluid, the so-called Rayleigh gas, and is characterized by the appearance of a two-point correlation function known as dynamic structure factor, which reflects symmetry and statistical mechanics properties of the fluid. In the case of a free gas all relevant physical parameters, such as fugacity, ratio between the masses, momentum transfer and energy transfer are put into evidence, giving an exact expansion of the dynamic structure factor. The limit in which these quantities are small is then considered. In particular in the Brownian limit a Fokker-Planck equation is obtained in which the corrections due to quantum statistics can be explicitly evaluated and are given in terms of the Bose function $g_0 (z)$ and the Fermi function $f_0 (z)$.Comment: 18 pages, revtex, no figures, to appear in J. Math. Phy