Theory of relativistic Brownian motion: the (1+1)-dimensional case.

We construct a theory for the (1+1)-dimensional Brownian motion in a viscous medium, which is (i) consistent with Einstein's theory of special relativity and (ii) reduces to the standard Brownian motion in the Newtonian limit case. In the first part of this work the classical Langevin equations of motion, governing the nonrelativistic dynamics of a free Brownian particle in the presence of a heat bath (white noise), are generalized in the framework of special relativity. Subsequently, the corresponding relativistic Langevin equations are discussed in the context of the generalized Ito (prepoint discretization rule) versus the Stratonovich (midpoint discretization rule) dilemma: It is found that the relativistic Langevin equation in the Hänggi-Klimontovich interpretation (with the postpoint discretization rule) is the only one that yields agreement with the relativistic Maxwell distribution. Numerical results for the relativistic Langevin equation of a free Brownian particle are presented.