  Collective emission behavior is usually described by the decay dynamics of
the completely symmetric Dicke states. To study a more realistic scenario, we
investigate alternative initial states inducing a more complex time evolution.
Superposition states of the fully inverted Dicke state and the Dicke ground
state with unequal mutual weights are studied as examples as well as
superradiance stemming from atoms in clusters separated by more than one
wavelength. The Monte Carlo wave function method serves as framework to study
the dynamics of quantum states, which is determined by quantum jumps on the one
hand and continuous evolution dynamics on the other hand. We compare this
method with the classical picture of a system of rate equations written for the
diagonal components of the density matrix.
