Structure of Uniformly Continuous Quantum Markov Semigroups with Atomic Decoherence-free Subalgebra

We establish the structure of uniformly continuous quantum Markov semigroups with atomic decoherence-free subalgebra and apply the result to derive a natural decomposition of a Markovian open quantum system into its noiseless (decoherence-free) and irreducible (ergodic) components. We deduce the structure of invariant states and a method for finding decoherence-free subsystems and subspaces. The relationship between environment induced decoherence and the decoherence-free subalgebra is also discussed.