Linked cluster expansions in the equations of motion method II

The general method of paper I of this series is applied to derive kinetic equations (KE's), i.e. closed exact equations governing the time evolution of the single-particle density matrix. The short-memory approximation of these non-Markowian equations is formulated in such a way that it is valid even in strongly inhomogeneous systems. The c-number diagram expansion of the integral kernels of the KE's is obtained from the general rules of paper I. It is shown that certain secular divergent terms cancel each other. The diagrams decay into dynamic and correlational parts, the latter being given by cluster functions describing the correlations of the particles in the local equilibrium ensemble σ(t) which is formulated in terms of the single-particle density matrix and of the Hamiltonian. The appearance of the cluster functions is the most pronounced difference of our KE's in comparison with other KE's which are formulated in terms of the dynamics of isolated clusters of particles. It is argued that our KE's may be viewed as a highly summed version of these latter KE's and that the ultimate reason for this difference lies in the fact that in our theory the conservation of the average macroscopic energy is taken into account explicitly.