Open quantum systems and quantum Brownian motion

The master equation has long been the standard tool for the study of open quantum systems. One of its more famous applications is to the problem of the quantum version of Brownian motion, whose first analysis by Caldiera and Leggett in two papers in the early 80s has now attracted >5000 citations. But there is still more to learn about this problem, and about master equations in general, particularly now with the growing importance of generalisations to non-Markovian dynamics, of which the Caldiera-Leggett model is the canonical example. This talk will address basic ideas of open quantum systems, the master equation, and some new developments in the study of the Caldiera-Leggett model.