A simple semiclassical approach to the Kramers' problem

摘要

We show that the Wigner-Leggett-Caldeira equation for Wigner phase space distribution function which describes the quantum Brownian motion of a particle in a force field in a high temperature, ohmic environment can be identified as a semiclassical version of Kramers' equation. Based on an expansion in powers of h, we solve this equation to calculate the semiclassical correction to Kramers' rate.