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arXiv:1403.3429

Path algebras and de Broglie waves

Murray Gerstenhaber

Published Mar 13, 2014• 0 citations
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Abstract

De Broglie waves may be a reflection of a deformation inherent in the path algebra of phase space. On a Riemannian manifold equipped with a suitable 2-form, the product of paths, which is ordinarily their concatenation, can be deformed by multiplication by a scalar weight giving rise to a function on paths. In flat phase space the associated function is periodic with period the de Broglie wave length. The de Broglie description may only be approximate in curved space.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1403.3429

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De Broglie waves may be a reflection of a deformation inherent in the path algebra of phase space. On a Riemannian manifold equipped with a suitable 2-form, the product of paths, which is ordinarily their concatenation, can be deformed by multiplication by a scalar weight giving rise to a function on paths. In flat phase space the associated function is periodic with period the de Broglie wave length. The de Broglie description may only be approximate in curved space.
Semigroup algebras admit certain `coherent' deformations which, in the special case of a path algebra, may associate a periodic function to an evolving path; for a particle moving freely on a straight line after an initial impulse, the wave length is that hypothesized by de Broglie's wave-particle duality. This theory leads to a model of physical phase space of which mathematical phase space, the cotangent bundle of configuration space, is a projection. This space is singular, quantized at the Planck level, its structure implies the existence of spin, and the spread of a packet can be described as a random walk. The wavelength associated to a particle moving in this space need not be constant and its phase can change discontinuously.
The phase corresponding to a certain path in the Feynman path integral is derived with the help of the de Broglie hypothesis. Zusammenfassung. Die einem bestimmten Pfad entsprechende Phase im Feynman-Pfadintegral wird mit Hilfe der de Broglie-Hypothese abgeleitet. In the beginning quantum mechanics was built up by analogy with the formulation of classical mechanics in terms of the Hamilton function. In 1933, Dirac [2] announced the idea of formulating quantum mechanics on the basis of the Lagrange function. He started from the analogy between the treatment of classical motion as a canonical transformation and the transformational properties of operators with respect to a time translation. This idea of Dirac was developed further by Feynman [3], who regarded a quantum-mechanical motion from one space-time point to another as a superposition of motions along all possible paths connecting the two points. Each path contributes to the total probability amplitude a term proportional to where is the classical action corresponding to this path and is Planck's constant. Feynman [3] adopted the form of the phase in the expression (1) as a postulate. Another way, however, of deriving the phase is to use the de Broglie hypothesis [1], as shown below. According to this hypothesis, it is possible to associate any particle with a certain frequency proportional to its energy (Hamiltonian function), i.e., and a wave vector proportional to the particle's momentum as Now consider, in the sense of Feynman's formulation, a particle moving along a certain path from point 1 to point 2. During the motion, let and be the radius vectors of the particle at the times t, t+ dt respectively. According to the de Broglie hypothesis, we can associate a plane wave with the particle in the neighbourhood of these points. The phase change of this wave along the particle's path during the motion between the points and consists of space and time phase changes: The term in the parentheses is precisely the value of the Lagrange function at the point . The phase change of the wavefunction corresponding to the whole path can be obtained by integration of the term expressing the infinitesimal phase change: In this way, on the basis of the de Broglie hypothesis, we have reached full agreement with Feynman's postulate: the phase of the probability amplitude corresponding to a certain path is equal to , where is the classical action corresponding to this path. References [1] de Broglie L 1923 Comptes rendus 177 548 - 550 [2] Dirac P A M 1933 Phys. Z. der Sowjetunion 3 64 [3] Feynman R 1948 Rev. Mod. Phys. 2 367
de Broglie’s concept of particles as sources of phase is extended to the analysis of systems in which the potential is not constant. The treatment assumes that the phase information propagates as waves according to classical electrodynamics including reflection with phase changes from potential energy barriers. The energies and weighting functions in such cases are obtained by comparison of the phase of the accelerated particle relative to the phases of reflections from the change in potential. Application to the chemically interesting systems of the harmonic oscillator and hydrogen atom are considered using the time evolution of the relative phases of the reflected de Broglie phase waves, whereby the weighting functions are obtained from the distance dependence of the phase differences between the reflections and the source. This is accomplished conveniently by taking time derivatives of the relative de Broglie phases and considering the periodicity of the motion. Optimum trajectories are determined by minimization of the action 2i(mv2-r∂V/∂r)/ħγ which depends on the potential V and the velocity v. The treatment leads to the Newtonian force law for circular orbits and affords the same energies as derived using the Schrödinger equation.
A formulation is proposed for the behavior of a particle in a box based on two assumptions: (1) particles have an associated phase which changes periodically with time as defined by de Broglie, and (2) the transmission of phase information follows optical principles, including reflection at potential boundaries and relativistic Doppler effects. This approach defines optimal trajectories by matching the phase of a source and its reflections. The momentum of the particle is guided by a de Broglie wave which follows the equation R exp {i[w0 (1-v^2/c^2)^-1/2][(t - vz)/c^2]} cos {[w0(1-v^2/c^2)^-1/2/c](vt-z)} This wave is generated by reflections occurring an even number of times, the phase and amplitude of which correspond to Lorentz transforms relative to the time and position, respectively. Nodes are produced by reflections occurring an odd number of times, which can be conceived to generate a wave traveling in the opposite direction and shifted by a phase constant π. Application to an individual particle in an infinite potential well affords the same results for energies and nodes as derived by the Schrödinger equation.
Louis de Broglie’s original theory of matter waves has until very recently received relatively little treatment in the literature on history and foundations of physics. This paper attempts to clarify a number of aspects of de Broglie’s theory, as formulated primarily in his famous thesis, which still give rise to confusion or debate. To this end, a re-examination is made of the scope and validity of the relativistic physics employed in de Broglie’s arguments concerning the existence of phase waves and their physical implications. Recent doubts concerning the soundness of de Broglie’s introduction of a wave group associated with the quantum are also analyzed in detail, and it is argued that the wave group indeed has a problematic, if minor, role in the overall theory.