We consider a system with a discrete configuration space. We show that the geometrical structures associated with such a system provide the tools necessary for a reconstruction of discrete quantum mechanics once dynamics is brought into the picture. We do this in three steps. Our starting point is information geometry, the natural geometry of the space of probability distributions. Dynamics requires additional structure. To evolve the Pk, we introduce coordinates Sk canonically conjugate to the Pk and a symplectic structure. We then seek to extend the metric structure of information geometry, to define a geometry over the full space of the Pk and Sk. Consistency between the metric tensor and the symplectic form forces us to introduce a Kähler geometry. The construction has notable features. A complex structure is obtained in a natural way. The canonical coordinates of the ψk = PkeiSk Kähler space are precisely the wave functions of quantum mechanics. The full group of unitary transformations is obtained. Finally, one may associate a Hilbert space with the Kähler space, which leads to the standard version of quantum theory. We also show that the metric that we derive here using purely geometrical arguments is precisely the one that leads to Wootters’ expression for the statistical distance for quantum systems.
We consider a system with a discrete configuration space. We show that the geometrical structures associated with such a system provide the tools necessary for a reconstruction of discrete quantum mechanics once dynamics is brought into the picture. We do this in three steps. Our starting point is information geometry, the natural geometry of the space of probability distributions. Dynamics requires additional structure. To evolve the Pk, we introduce coordinates Sk canonically conjugate to the Pk and a symplectic structure. We then seek to extend the metric structure of information geometry, to define a geometry over the full space of the Pk and Sk. Consistency between the metric tensor and the symplectic form forces us to introduce a Kähler geometry. The construction has notable features. A complex structure is obtained in a natural way. The canonical coordinates of the ψk = PkeiSk Kähler space are precisely the wave functions of quantum mechanics. The full group of unitary transformations is obtained. Finally, one may associate a Hilbert space with the Kähler space, which leads to the standard version of quantum theory. We also show that the metric that we derive here using purely geometrical arguments is precisely the one that leads to Wootters’ expression for the statistical distance for quantum systems.
We consider the space of probabilities {P(x)}, where the x are coordinates of a configuration space. Under the action of the translation group, P(x) →P(x + θ), there is a natural metric over the parameters θ given by the Fisher-Rao metric. This metric induces a metric over the space of probabilities. Our next step is to set the probabilities in motion. To do this, we introduce a canonically conjugate field S and a symplectic structure; this gives us Hamiltonian equations of motion. We show that it is possible to extend the metric structure to the full space of the (P,S), and this leads in a natural way to introducing a Kähler structure; i.e., a geometry that includes compatible symplectic, metric and complex structures. The simplest geometry that describes these spaces of evolving probabilities has remarkable properties: the natural, canonical variables are precisely the wave functions of quantum mechanics; the Hamiltonian for the quantum free particle can be derived from a representation of the Galilean group using purely geometrical arguments; and it is straightforward to associate with this geometry a Hilbert space which turns out to be the Hilbert space of quantum mechanics. We are led in this way to a reconstruction of quantum theory based solely on the geometry of probabilities in motion.
It is shown that the geometry of quantum theory can be derived from geometrical structure that may be considered more fundamental. The basic elements of this reconstruction of quantum theory are the natural metric on the space of probabilities (information geometry), the description of dynamics using a Hamiltonian formalism (symplectic geometry), and requirements of consistency (Kähler geometry). The theory that results is standard quantum mechanics, but in a geometrical formulation that includes also a particular case of a family of nonlinear gauge transformations introduced by Doebner and Goldin. The analysis is carried out for the case of discrete quantum mechanics. The work presented here relies heavily on, and extends, previous work done in collaboration with M. J. W. Hall.
In this thesis we study the roles played by symplectic geometry in quantum mechanics,in particular quantum dynamics and quantum information theory treated as two separate parts. The common ground for both parts is the geometrical formulation of quantum mechanics. In Chapter 2, we review the associated complex projective Hilbert space of quantum pure states, with symplectic and Riemannian structures and their roles in quantum dynamics and kinematics. In Chapter 3, we motivate the idea of information-theoretic constraint on the differentiable manifold of probability distributions through the maximum uncertainty principle and the linear Schrodinger equation by introduction of the wave function. In Chapter 4, we review both regular and singular symplectic reduction of a symplectic manifold, which is acted upon properly and symplectically by a compact Lie group. Chapter 5 contains the author's original contributions to the first part of the thesis. In this chapter, by using the same information-theoretic discussion of the Chapter 3 we propose a non-relativistic, spin-less, non-linear quantum dynamical equation,with the Fisher information metric replaced by the Jensen-Shannon distance information. Furthermore, we show that the non-linear Schrodinger equation is in fact a Hamiltonian dynamics, namely it preserves the symplectic structure of the complex Hilbert space. The projected dynamics on the corresponding projective Hilbert space is derived and its properties are highlighted in further details. Chapter 6 contains the author's primary contributions to the second part of the thesis. In particular, by using the singular symplectic reduction of the Chapter 4 we explicitly construct the space of entanglement types of three-qubit pure states with a specific (shifted) spectra of single-particle reduced density matrices. Moreover, we obtain the image of the symplectic quotient under the induced Hilbert map, by using local unitary invariant polynomials. Then the symplectic structure on the principal stratum of the symplectic quotient is derived. Finally, it is discussed that other lower dimensional strata are relative equilibria on the original manifold and their stability properties are investigated under compact subgroups of the local unitary transformations.
We present a geometric formulation of quantum mechanics based on the symplectic structure of the projective Hilbert space. Building upon the standard Kähler framework, we introduce an extension in which the symplectic structure is allowed to couple to a metric-affine background geometry, leading to a deformation of the Hamiltonian flow on the state space.
We show that, under suitable conditions, the deformed structure remains symplectic and defines a well-posed Hamiltonian system. The formulation reduces to standard Schrödinger dynamics in the limit where the geometric deformation vanishes.
Explicit analytical examples are constructed to illustrate the effect of the deformation. In particular, curvature-dependent deformations lead to a rescaling of Hamiltonian flows, while torsion-induced contributions produce direction-dependent corrections. In addition, geometric phases acquire corrections determined by the deformed symplectic structure.
These results provide a mathematically consistent framework for exploring geometric modifications of quantum evolution induced by background curvature and affine structure.
A quantum system can be entirely described by the Kähler structure of the projective space [Formula: see text] associated to the Hilbert space [Formula: see text] of possible states; this is the so-called geometrical formulation of quantum mechanics. In this paper, we give an explicit link between the geometrical formulation (of finite dimensional quantum systems) and statistics through the natural geometry of the space [Formula: see text] of non-vanishing probabilities [Formula: see text] defined on a finite set En: = {x1, …, xn}. More precisely, we use the Fisher metric gF and the exponential connection ∇(1) (both being natural statistical objects living on [Formula: see text]) to construct, via the Dombrowski splitting theorem, a Kähler structure on [Formula: see text] which has the property that it induces the natural Kähler structure of a suitably chosen open dense subset of ℙ(ℂn). As a direct physical consequence, a significant part of the quantum mechanical formalism (in finite dimension) is encoded in the triple [Formula: see text].
The mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics is derived or “reconstructed” from more basic considerations of the probability theory and information geometry. The starting point is the recognition that probabilities are central to QM; the formalism of QM is derived as a particular kind of flow on a finite dimensional statistical manifold—a simplex. The cotangent bundle associated to the simplex has a natural symplectic structure and it inherits its own natural metric structure from the information geometry of the underlying simplex. We seek flows that preserve (in the sense of vanishing Lie derivatives) both the symplectic structure (a Hamilton flow) and the metric structure (a Killing flow). The result is a formalism in which the Fubini–Study metric, the linearity of the Schrödinger equation, the emergence of complex numbers, Hilbert spaces and the Born rule are derived rather than postulated.