Jump-diffusion unravelling of a non-Markovian generalized Lindblad master equation

w The "correlated-projection technique" has been successfully applied to derive a large class of highly non-Markovian dynamics, the so called non-Markovian generalized Lindblad-type equations or Lindblad rate equations. In this article, general unravelings are presented for these equations, described in terms of jump-diffusion stochastic differential equations for wave functions. We show also that the proposed unraveling can be interpreted in terms of measurements continuous in time but with some conceptual restrictions. The main point in the measurement interpretation. is that the structure itself of the underlying mathematical theory poses restrictions on what can be considered as observable and what is not; such restrictions can be seen as the effect of some kind of superselection rule. Finally, we develop a concrete example and discuss possible effects on the heterodyne spectrum of a two-level system due to a structured thermal-like bath with memory. (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3514539]