$q$-Gaussian processes: non-commutative and classical aspects

We examine, for $-1<q<1$, $q$-Gaussian processes, i.e. families of operators (non-commutative random variables) $X_t=a_t+a_t^{\ast }$ – where the $a_t$ fulfill the $q$-commutation relations $a_s{a}_t^{\ast }-q{a}_t^{\ast }{a}_s=c(s,t)\cdot \text{id}$ for some covariance function $c(\cdot ,\cdot )$ – equipped with the vacuum expectation state. We show that there is a $q$-analogue of the Gaussian functor of second quantization behind these processes and that this structure can be used to translate questions on $q$-Gaussian processes into corresponding (and much simpler) questions in the underlying Hilbert space. In particular, we use this idea to show that a large class of $q$-Gaussian processes possess a non-commutative kind of Markov property, which ensures that there exist classical versions of these non-commutative processes. This answers an old question of Frisch and Bourret \cite{FB}.