Accardi, L.; Frigerio, A. Markovian cocycles. (English) Zbl 0534.46045 Proc. R. Ir. Acad., Sect. A 83, 251-263 (1983). Quantum Markov Chains were defined by the first author [Non-commutative Markov chains. Proc. School Math. Phys. Camarino, 268-295 (1974)] as states \(\phi\) on the infinite \(C^*\)-tensor product A of countably many copies of a matrix algebra M, possessing an intrinsic statistical property (formulated in terms of generalized conditional expectations) which allows to determine their correlation functions in terms of an ”initial distribution” (a state \(\phi_ 0\) on M) and ”transition expectations” (completely positive maps \({\mathcal E}_ n:M\otimes M\to M).\) The paper contains several equivalent characterizations of quantum Markov chains, in terms of the density operators \(\exp [-h_{[0,n]}]\) of the restrictions of \(\phi\) to \(A_{[0,n]}=\otimes^{n}_{k=0}M_{(k)},\) or of ”Markovian cocycles”. More precisely, \(\phi\) is shown to be a Markov state if and only if \(h_{[0,n]}\) is an ”Ising potential”, i.e. \(h_{[0,n]}=\sum^{n}_{k=0}H_ k+\sum^{n}_{k=1}H_{k-1,k}, H_ k\in A_ k, H_{k-1,k}\in A_{[k-1,k]},\) such that \((*)\quad [H_{n- 1,n},[H_ n,.]^ k(H_{n,n+1})]=0\) for all k, or, equivalently, if and only if the modular automorphism groups \(\alpha^ n_ t\) of \(A_{[0,n]}\) associated with the restrictions of \(\phi\) have the inductive structure \(\alpha^ n_ t(a_{[0,n]})=\alpha_ t^{n- 1}({\mathcal U}^ n_ t*a_{[0,n]}{\mathcal U}^ n_ t),\) where \({\mathcal U}^ n_ t\in A_{[n,n+1]}\) has the cocylce property \({\mathcal U}^ n_{s+t}={\mathcal U}^ n_ t\alpha_{-t}\!^{n-1}({\mathcal U}^ n_ s).\) Condition (*) is rather restrictive: it holds for the usual quantum Ising model, but not for all the nearest neighbour potentials of interest for quantum statistical mechanics. Cited in 3 ReviewsCited in 41 Documents MSC: 46L51 Noncommutative measure and integration 46L53 Noncommutative probability and statistics 46L54 Free probability and free operator algebras 46L60 Applications of selfadjoint operator algebras to physics 46N99 Miscellaneous applications of functional analysis 60J05 Discrete-time Markov processes on general state spaces 82B10 Quantum equilibrium statistical mechanics (general) Keywords:Ising potentials; modular automorphism group; quantum Markov chains; infinite \(C^*\)-tensor product; correlation functions; initial distribution; transition expectations; density operators; Markovian cocycles; Markov state; quantum Ising model PDFBibTeX XMLCite \textit{L. Accardi} and \textit{A. Frigerio}, Proc. R. Ir. Acad., Sect. A 83, 251--263 (1983; Zbl 0534.46045)