Generalized Feynman-Vernon approach to dissipative quantum systems.

In this paper the so-called Feynman-Vernon influence functional theory has been generalized in order to include the possibility of dealing with initial conditions of the system plus environment other than the factorizable one. It has been shown that the new influence functional can now be written in terms of paths which represent the coupling of quantum-statistical to quantum-dynamical effects. Once the thermal paths are integrated out of this new influence functional, a generalization of the original Feynman-Vernon expression is obtained.