Weak-Coupling Limit. I A Contraction Semigroup for Infinite Subsystems

We consider the class of quantum mechanical master equations defined on a generic Banach space, arising by projecting weakly perturbed one-parameter groups of isometries. We show that the possible semigroup approximations are far from unique. However, uniqueness can be reestablished through the introduction of a dynamical time averaging map. The generator of the resulting Contraction Semigroup is always well defined, irrespective of the dimensions of the projected subspace, and of the spectral properties of its free dynamics. We show how our approach includes and generalizes the preexisting literature.