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arXiv:1304.7347

The Metaplectic Group, the Symplectic Spinor and the Gouy Phase

M.C.B. Fernandes, Basil J. Hiley

Published Apr 27, 2013• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper we discuss a simplified approach to the symplectic Clifford algebra, the symplectic Clifford group and the symplectic spinor by first extending the Heisenberg algebra. We do this by adding a new idempotent element to the algebra. It turns out that this element is the projection operator onto the Dirac standard ket. When this algebra is transformed into the Fock algebra, the corresponding idempotent is the projector onto the vacuum. These additional elements give a very simple way to write down expressions for symplectic spinors as elements of the symplectic Clifford algebra. When this algebra structure is applied to an optical system we find a new way to understand the Gouy effect. It is seen to arise from the covering group, which in this case is the symplectic Clifford group, also known as the metaplectic group. We relate our approach to that of Simon and Mukunda who have shown the relation of the Gouy phase to the Berry phase.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1304.7347

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In this paper we discuss a simplified approach to the symplectic Clifford algebra, the symplectic Clifford group and the symplectic spinor by first extending the Heisenberg algebra. We do this by adding a new idempotent element to the algebra. It turns out that this element is the projection operator onto the Dirac standard ket. When this algebra is transformed into the Fock algebra, the corresponding idempotent is the projector onto the vacuum. These additional elements give a very simple way to write down expressions for symplectic spinors as elements of the symplectic Clifford algebra. When this algebra structure is applied to an optical system we find a new way to understand the Gouy effect. It is seen to arise from the covering group, which in this case is the symplectic Clifford group, also known as the metaplectic group. We relate our approach to that of Simon and Mukunda who have shown the relation of the Gouy phase to the Berry phase.
In this paper we show how Dirac, in 1947, anticipated the Bohm approach using an argument based on what is now called the Heisenberg picture. From a detailed examination of these ideas, we show that the role played by the Dirac standard ket is equivalent to the introduction and use of the idempotent in the orthogonal and symplectic Clifford algebras. This formalism is then used to show that the so-called `Bohm trajectories' are the average of an ensemble of individual stochastic Feynman paths. Since the Bohm approach can be simply reduced to classical mechanics, the algebraic formalism presented here provides a natural way to relate quantum mechanics to classical mechanics without the need for decoherence. We show that this approach suggests an underlying fractal space-time of the type discussed by Nottale.
The Heisenberg–Weyl ring contains the metaplectic group of canonical transforms acting unitarily on ℒ 2(ℛ). These ring elements are characterized through (i) the integral transform kernels, (ii) coset distributions, and (iii) classical functions under any quantization scheme. The isomorphism under group composition leads to several new relations involving twisted products and quantization of Gaussian classical functions. The Wigner inversion operator is a special central group element. It is shown that the only quantization scheme invariant under metaplectic transformations is the Weyl scheme. The structure studied here appears to be relevant to the study of wave optics with aberration.
A hidden gauge theory structure of quantum mechanics which is invisible in its conventional formulation is uncovered. Quantum mechanics is shown to be equivalent to a certain Yang-Mills theory with an infinite-dimensional gauge group and a nondynamical connection. It is defined over an arbitrary symplectic manifold which constitutes the phase-space of the system under consideration. The ''matter fields'' are local generalizations of states and observables: they assume values in a family of local Hilbert spaces (and their tensor products) which are attached to the points of phase-space. Under local frame rotations they transform in the spinor representation of the metaplectic group Mp(2N), the double covering of Sp(2N). The rules of canonical quantization are replaced by two independent postulates with a simple group theoretical and differential geometrical interpretation. A novel background-quantum split symmetry plays a central role. (orig.)
The symplectic group Sp(n) acts on phase space while the unitary representation of its double cover, Mp(n), the metaplectic group, acts on functions defined on configuration space. We will construct an extension Mp(n) of Mp(n) acting on square integrable functions on phase space. This is performed using previous results of ours involving explicit expressions of the twisted Weyl symbols of metaplectic operators and Bopp pseudodifferential operators, which are phase space extensions of the usual Weyl operators.
Projection operators are central to the algebraic formulation of quantum theory because both wavefunction and hermitian operators(observables) have spectral decomposition in terms of the spectral projections. Projection operators are hermitian operators which are idempotents also. We call them quantum idempotents. They are also important for the conceptual understanding of quantum theory because projection operators also represent observation process on quantum system. In this paper we explore the algebra of quantum idempotents and show that they generate Iterant algebra (defined in the paper), Lie algebra, Grassmann algebra and Clifford algebra which is very interesting because these later algebras were introduced for the geometry of spaces and hence are called geometric algebras. Thus the projection operator representation gives a new meaning to these geometric algebras in that they are also underlying algebras of quantum processes and also they bring geometry closer to the quantum theory. It should be noted that projection operators not only make lattices of quantum logic but they also span projective geometry. We will give iterant representations of framed braid group algebras, parafermion algebras and the su(3)su(3)su(3) algebra of quarks. These representations are very striking because iterant algebra encodes the spatial and temporal aspects of recursive processes. In that regard our representation of these algebras for physics opens up entirely new perspectives of looking at fermions,spins and parafermions(anyons).
A hidden gauge theory structure of quantum mechanics which is invisible in its conventional formulation is uncovered. Quantum mechanics is shown to be equivalent to a certain Yang–Mills theory with an infinite-dimensional gauge group and a nondynamical connection. It is defined over an arbitrary symplectic manifold which constitutes the phase space of the system under consideration. The "matter fields" are local generalizations of states and observables; they assume values in a family of local Hilbert spaces (and their tensor products) which are attached to the points of phase space. Under local frame rotations they transform in the spinor representation of the metaplectic group Mp(2N), the double covering of Sp(2N). The rules of canonical quantization are replaced by two independent postulates with a simple group-theoretical and differential-geometrical interpretation. A novel background-quantum split symmetry plays a central role.