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arXiv:1503.01286 · Journal of Physics Conference Series

Hamilton–Jacobi meet Möbius

Alon E. Faraggi, Marco Matone

Published Jul 30, 2015• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Adaptation of the Hamilton–Jacobi formalism to quantum mechanics leads to a cocycle condition, which is invariant under D -dimensional Mobius transformations with Euclidean or Minkowski metrics. In this paper we aim to provide a pedagogical presentation of the proof of the Möbius symmetry underlying the cocycle condition. The Möbius symmetry implies energy quantization and undefinability of quantum trajectories, without assigning any prior interpretation to the wave function. As such, the Hamilton–Jacobi formalism, augmented with the global Möbius symmetry, provides an alternative starting point, to the axiomatic probability interpretation of the wave function, for the formulation of quantum mechanics and the quantum spacetime. The Möbius symmetry can only be implemented consistently if spatial space is compact, and correspondingly if there exist a finite ultraviolet length scale. Evidence for nontrivial space topology may exist in the cosmic microwave background radiation.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/631/1/012010

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Adaptation of the Hamilton–Jacobi formalism to quantum mechanics leads to a cocycle condition, which is invariant under D -dimensional Mobius transformations with Euclidean or Minkowski metrics. In this paper we aim to provide a pedagogical presentation of the proof of the Möbius symmetry underlying the cocycle condition. The Möbius symmetry implies energy quantization and undefinability of quantum trajectories, without assigning any prior interpretation to the wave function. As such, the Hamilton–Jacobi formalism, augmented with the global Möbius symmetry, provides an alternative starting point, to the axiomatic probability interpretation of the wave function, for the formulation of quantum mechanics and the quantum spacetime. The Möbius symmetry can only be implemented consistently if spatial space is compact, and correspondingly if there exist a finite ultraviolet length scale. Evidence for nontrivial space topology may exist in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
The equivalence postulate approach to quantum mechanics aims to formulate quantum mechanics from a fundamental geometrical principle. Underlying the formulation there exists a basic cocycle condition which is invariant under D -dimensional Mobius transformations with respect to the Euclidean or Minkowski metrics. The invariance under global Mobius transformations implies that spatial space is compact. Furthermore, it implies energy quantisation and undefinability of quantum trajectories without assuming any prior interpretation of the wave function. The approach may be viewed as conventional quantum mechanics with the caveat that spatial space is compact, as dictated by the Möbius symmetry, with the classical limit corresponding to the decompactification limit. Correspondingly, there exists a finite length scale in the formalism and consequently an intrinsic regularisation scheme. Evidence for the compactness of space may exist in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
The equivalence postulate of quantum mechanics offers an axiomatic approach to quantum field theories and quantum gravity. The equivalence hypothesis can be viewed as adaptation of the classical Hamilton-Jacobi formalism to quantum mechanics. The construction reveals two key identities that underlie the formalism in Euclidean or Minkowski spaces. The first is a cocycle condition, which is invariant under D -dimensional Möbius transformations with Euclidean or Minkowski metrics. The second is a quadratic identity which is a representation of the D -dimensional quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation. In this approach, the solutions of the associated Schrödinger equation are used to solve the nonlinear quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation. A basic property of the construction is that the two solutions of the corresponding Schrödinger equation must be retained. The quantum potential, which arises in the formalism, can be interpreted as a curvature term. The author proposes that the quantum potential, which is always nontrivial and is an intrinsic energy term characterising a particle, can be interpreted as dark energy. Numerical estimates of its magnitude show that it is extremely suppressed. In the multiparticle case the quantum potential, as well as the mass, is cumulative.
We show that if space is compact, then trajectories cannot be defined in the framework of the quantum Hamilton–Jacobi (HJ) equation. The starting point is the simple observation that when the energy is quantised it is not possible to make variations with respect to the energy, and the time parameterisation t−t0=∂ES0t-t_0=\partial _E{\mathcal {S}}_0t−t0​=∂E​S0​ , implied by Jacobi’s theorem, which leads to the group velocity, is ill defined. It should be stressed that this follows directly from the quantum HJ equation without any axiomatic assumption concerning the standard formulation of quantum mechanics. This provides a stringent connection between the quantum HJ equation and the Copenhagen interpretation. Together with tunnelling and the energy quantisation theorem for confining potentials, formulated in the framework of quantum HJ equation, it leads to the main features of the axioms of quantum mechanics from a unique geometrical principle. Similar to the case of the classical HJ equation, this fixes its quantum analog by requiring that there exist point transformations, rather than canonical ones, leading to the trivial hamiltonian. This is equivalent to a basic cocycle condition on the states. Such a cocycle condition can be implemented on compact spaces, so that continuous energy spectra are allowed only as a limiting case. Remarkably, a compact space would also imply that the Dirac and von Neumann formulations of quantum mechanics essentially coincide. We suggest that there is a definition of time parameterisation leading to trajectories in the context of the quantum HJ equation having the probabilistic interpretation of the Copenhagen School.
We consider the two main theorems in the derivation of the Quantum Hamilton--Jacobi Equation from the Equivalence Postulate (EP) of quantum mechanics. The first one concerns a basic cocycle condition, which holds in any dimension with Euclidean or Minkowski metrics and implies a global conformal symmetry underlying the Quantum Hamilton--Jacobi Equation. In one dimension such a condition fixes the Schwarzian equation. The second theorem concerns energy quantization which follows rigorously from consistency of the equivalence postulate.
We show that if space is compact, then trajectories cannot be defined in the framework of quantum Hamilton--Jacobi equation. The starting point is the simple observation that when the energy is quantized it is not possible to make variations with respect to the energy, and the time parameterisation t-t_0=\partial_E S_0, implied by Jacobi's theorem and that leads to group velocity, is ill defined. It should be stressed that this follows directly form the quantum HJ equation without any axiomatic assumption concerning the standard formulation of quantum mechanics. This provides a stringent connection between the quantum HJ equation and the Copenhagen interpretation. Together with tunneling and the energy quantization theorem for confining potentials, formulated in the framework of quantum HJ equation, it leads to the main features of the axioms of quantum mechanics from a unique geometrical principle. Similarly to the case of the classical HJ equation, this fixes its quantum analog by requiring that there exist point transformations, rather than canonical ones, leading to the trivial hamiltonian. This is equivalent to a basic cocycle condition on the states. Such a cocycle condition can be implemented on compact spaces, so that continuous energy spectra are allowed only as a limiting case. Remarkably, a compact space would also imply that the Dirac and von Neumann formulations of quantum mechanics essentially coincide. We suggest that there is a definition of time parameterisation leading to trajectories in the context of the quantum HJ equation having the probabilistic interpretation of the Copenhagen School.
Hamilton-Jacobi theory is a fundamental subject of classical mechanics and has also an important role in the development of quantum mechanics. Its conceptual framework results from the advantages of transformation theory and, for this reason, relates to the features of the generating function of canonical transformations connecting a specific Hamiltonian H to a new Hamiltonian K chosen to simplify Hamilton's equations of motion. Usually, the choice is between K=0 and a cyclic K depending on the new conjugate momenta only. Here, we investigate more general representations of the new Hamiltonian. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the two common alternatives of K=0 and a cyclic K should be distinguished in more detail. An attempt is made to clearly discern the two regimes for the harmonic oscillator and, not surprisingly, some correspondences to the quantum harmonic oscillator appear. Thanks to this preparatory work, generalized coordinates and momenta associated with the Hamilton's principal function S (i.e., K=0) are used to determine dependences in the Hamilton's characteristic function W (i.e., cyclic K). The procedure leads to the Schrodinger's equation where the Hamilton's characteristic function plays the role of the Schrodinger's wave function, whereas the first integral invariant of Poincare' takes the place of the reduced Planck constant. This finding advances the pedagogical value of the Hamilton-Jacobi theory in view of an introduction to Schrodinger's wave mechanics without the tools of quantum mechanics.