Memory effects in the two-level atomic model

Abstract

Memory effects are quantitatively evaluated in a two-level atomic model interacting with a thermalized reservoir, and the transient behavior is analyzed. For this purpose we derive a generalized master equation from the Liouville equation and we obtain the solution (Green functions) in an almost white-noise approach. We verify that the occupation probabilities present an oscillatory behavior that is due to the structure of the memory kernel.