Thermal relaxation of systems with quadratic heat bath coupling

We consider the evolution of systems whose coupling to the heat bath is quadratic in the bath coordinates. Performing an explicit elimination of the bath variables we arrive at an equation of evolution for the system variables alone. In the weak coupling limit we show that the equation is of the generalized Langevin form, with fluctuations that are Gaussian and that obey a fluctuation-dissipation relation. If the system-bath coupling is linear in the system coordinates the resulting fluctuations are additive and the dissipation is linear. If the coupling is nonlinear in the system coordinates, the resulting fluctuations are multiplicative and the dissipation is nonlinear.