New structures in the theory of the laser model. II. Microscopic dynamics and a nonequilibrium entropy principle

In a recent article, Alli and Sewell [J. Math. Phys. 36, 5598 (1995)] formulated a new version of the Dicke-Hepp-Lieb laser model in terms of quantum dynamical semigroups, and thereby extended the macroscopic picture of the model. In the present article, we complement that picture with a corresponding microscopic one, which carries the following new results. (a) The local microscopic dynamics of the model is piloted by the classical, macroscopic field, generated by the collective action of its components; (b) the global state of the system carries no correlations between its constituent atoms after transient effects have died out; and (c) in the latter situation, the state of the system at any time t maximizes its entropy density, subject to the constraints imposed by the instantaneous values of its macroscopic variables. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.