Hu, Paz, and Zhang [B. L. Hu, J. P. Paz, and Y. Zhang, Phys. Rev. D 45, 2843 (1992)] have derived an exact master equation for quantum Brownian motion in a general environment via path integral techniques. Their master equation provides a very useful tool to study the decoherence of a quantum system due to the interaction with its environment. In this paper, we give an alternative and elementary derivation of the Hu-Paz-Zhang master equation, which involves tracing the evolution equation for the Wigner function. We also discuss the master equation in some special cases. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

• Received 15 August 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.53.2012