Definition for "Master Equation" in the Quantum Dictionary

- Modern Physics -

Quantum Mechanics Dictionary

An open-systems concept defining how a system interacts with an external environment and how this alters observable dynamics. It governs non-unitary evolution, effective noise processes, and reduced descriptions obtained by tracing out unobserved degrees of freedom. It does not uniquely identify a microscopic mechanism without additional modeling assumptions and experimental validation.

- Natural & Formal Sciences -

Mathematics & Logic Dictionary

An equation describing the time evolution of the probability distribution over a discrete set of system states for stochastic processes with jump transitions, expressed in terms of transition rates between states.