Quantum dissipation and the virial theorem

In this note, we study the celebrated virial theorem for dissipative systems, both classical and quantum. The classical formulation is discussed and an intriguing effect of the random force (noise) is made explicit in the context of the virial theorem. Subsequently, we derive a generalized virial theorem for a dissipative quantum oscillator, i.e. a quantum oscillator coupled with a quantum heat bath. Such a heat bath is modeled as an infinite collection of independent quantum oscillators with a certain distribution of initial conditions. In this situation, the non-Markovian nature of the quantum noise leads to novel bath-induced terms in the virial theorem. We also consider the case of an electrical circuit with thermal noise and analyze the role of non-Markovian noise in the context of the virial theorem. •We formulate a generalized quantum mechanical virial theorem for dissipative systems.•Novel bath-induced effects arise due to non-Markovian quantum noise.•The case of an electrical circuit with non-Markovian thermal noise is analyzed.