A Limitation of the Nakajima-Zwanzig projection method

Abstract: There is current interest in dynamical description of dif- ferent decompositions of a quantum system into subsystems. We investi- gate usefulness of the Nakajima-Zwanzig projection method in this context. Particularly, we are interested in simultaneous description of dynamics of open systems pertaining to dierent system-environment splits (decompo- sitions). We find that the Nakajima-Zwanzig and related projection meth- ods are system-environment split specific, that every system-environment split requires specific projector, and that projector adapted to a split nei- ther provides information about nor commute with a projector adapted to an alternative system-environment split. Our findings refer to finite- and infinite-dimensional systems and to arbitrary kinds of system-environment splitting. These findings are a direct consequence of the recently established quantum correlations relativity. We emphasize the subtlety and delicacy re- quired of the task of simultaneously describing the dynamics of alternate system-environment splits.