Brownian motion on Lie groups and open quantum systems

Abstract: We study the twirling semigroups of (super)operators, namely, certain quantum dynamical semigroups that are associated, in a natural way, with the pairs formed by a projective representation of a locally compact group and a convolution semigroup of probability measures on this group. The link connecting this class of semigroups of operators with (classical) Brownian motion is clarified. It turns out that every twirling semigroup associated with a finite-dimensional representation is a random unitary semigroup, and, conversely, every random unitary semigroup arises as a twirling semigroup. Using standard tools of the theory of convolution semigroups of measures and of convex analysis, we provide a complete characterization of the infinitesimal generator of a twirling semigroup associated with a finite-dimensional unitary representation of a Lie group.