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arXiv:0909.3258 · European Journal of Physics

From classical to quantum mechanics through optics

Jaume Masoliver A, Ana Ros Camacho

Published Nov 26, 2009• 22 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper, we revise the main aspects of the ‘Hamiltonian analogy’: the fact that optical paths are completely analogous to mechanical trajectories. We follow Schrödinger's original idea and go beyond this analogy by changing over from the Hamilton's principal function S to the wavefunction Ψ. We thus travel from classical to quantum mechanics using optics as a guide. Unfortunately, and despite its mathematical beauty and simplicity, the connection between classical and quantum mechanics through optics is nowadays hardly known and mostly ignored in university education. The present work tries to fill this gap.

DOI
10.1088/0143-0807/31/1/016

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In this paper, we revise the main aspects of the ‘Hamiltonian analogy’: the fact that optical paths are completely analogous to mechanical trajectories. We follow Schrödinger's original idea and go beyond this analogy by changing over from the Hamilton's principal function S to the wavefunction Ψ. We thus travel from classical to quantum mechanics using optics as a guide. Unfortunately, and despite its mathematical beauty and simplicity, the connection between classical and quantum mechanics through optics is nowadays hardly known and mostly ignored in university education. The present work tries to fill this gap.
Abstract A new derivation of Schrödinger’s equation is presented, based on Schrödinger’s original discussions on refraction and the optical-mechanical analogy, but adopting a much simpler formalism: Newtonian mechanics and some basic elements of classical wave theory (such as Snell’s law). We compare how particles and waves refract and show that the ‘law of particle refraction’ and the ‘law of wave refraction’ may become consistent if one assumes that a particle can be represented by a wave group. In this case, the differential equation whose solutions represent the waves forming such wave group is the Schrödinger equation. Due to the simplicity of the adopted mathematical formalism, we argue that this derivation can be used in quantum mechanics courses at introductory level to give students an idea of Schrödinger’s original path to his wave equation.
The classical limit ℏ\hbarℏ->0 of quantum mechanics is known to be delicate, in particular there seems to be no simple derivation of the classical Hamilton equation, starting from the Schrödinger equation. In this paper I elaborate on an idea of M. Reuter to represent wave functions by parallel sections of a flat vector bundle over phase space, using the connection of Fedosov's construction of deformation quantization. This generalizes the ordinary Schrödinger representation, and allows naturally for a description of quantum states in terms of a curve plus a wave function. Hamilton's equation arises in this context as a condition on the curve, ensuring the dynamics to split into a classical and a quantum part.
In this article, we develop quantum mechanics upon the framework of the quantum mechanical Hamilton-Jacobi theory. We will show, that the Schroedinger point of view and the Hamilton-Jacobi point of view are fully equivalent in their description of physical systems, but differ in their descriptive manner. As a main result, a wave function in Hamilton-Jacobi theory can be decomposed into travelling waves in any point in space, not only asymptotically. The well known WKB-theory will be a special result of the more general theory, we will develop below. By the example of the linear potential and the harmonic oscillator, we will discuss quantum mechanics from the Hamilton-Jacobi point of view. Soft boundary value problems as the connection problem can be solved exactely. Quantizised energies and Maslov-indices can be calculated directely without orthonormalizing wave-functions. Also, we will focus on trajectory themes, which, in contrast to the Schroedinger point of view, follow naturally from the quantum mechanical action function.
The Hamilton–Jacobi equation in classical mechanics and the related eikonal equation in geometrical optics are often described as the “point of closest approach” between classical and quantum mechanics. Most textbook treatments of Hamilton–Jacobi theory are aimed at graduate students and derive the equation only after a long introduction to canonical transformations. Most treatments of the eikonal equation only emphasize its use in geometrical optics. We show that both the Hamilton–Jacobi equation and the eikonal equation can be derived by a common procedure using only elementary aspects of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms introduced in undergraduate classical mechanics courses. Through this common approach, we hope to highlight to undergraduates the deep connections between classical mechanics, classical wave theory, and Schrödinger’s wave mechanics.
Schrödinger’s wave mechanics, developed in a series of papers published one century ago, offered an exceptionally intuitive route into the new atomic physics. The later axiomatic formulation of quantum mechanics brought indispensable mathematical precision, but it can also conceal the physical images that guided the original discovery. We revisit the optical–mechanical analogy behind Schrödinger’s construction and use it as a visual guide to stationary states, superposition, field modes, and gauge interactions. The analogies are deliberately heuristic and their limitations are stated: a quantum wavefunction is not, in general, a classical wave in ordinary space, and discrete classical modes do not by themselves imply quantized energy. Nevertheless, the wave viewpoint makes it possible to see the operator language of first and second quantization as the compact algebraic expression of an underlying mode structure. The purpose of this article is therefore not to replace the modern formalism, but to recover the physical intuition that makes that formalism intelligible.
Geometrical optics can be regarded both as the short-wavelength approximation of the propagation of electromagnetic waves, and as the exact way in which propagate the surfaces of discontinuity of the classical electromagnetic field. In this work we translate this last idea to quantum mechanics (both relativistic and nonrelativistic). We find that the surfaces of discontinuity of the wave function propagate exactly following the classical trajectories determined by the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. As an example, we consider the lack of diffraction of abrupt wave fronts.