Thermal Fluctuations and Electromagnetic Noise Spectra in Quantum Statistical Mechanics.
We derive the thermal noise spectrum of the of the longitudinal and transverse electric field operator of a given wave vector starting from the quantum-statistical definitions and relate it to the complex frequency and wave vector dependent complex conductivity in a homogeneous, isotropic system of electromagnetic interacting electrons. No additional assumptions were used in the proof. We analyze separately the longitudinal and transverse case with their peculiarities. The Nyquist formula for vanishing frequency and wave vector, as well as its modification for non-vanishing frequencies and wave vectors follow immediately. Furthermore we discuss also the noise of the photon occupation numbers.