Derivation of the Lindblad generator structure by use of the Ito stochastic calculus

We use the Id stochastic calculus to give a simple derivation of the Lindblad form for the generator of a completely positive density matrix evolution, by specialization from the corresponding global form for a completely positive map. As a by-product, we obtain a generalized generator for a completely positive stochastic density matrix evolution. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.