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arXiv:1604.07654

Classical approximations of relativistic quantum physics

G.E. Johnson

Published Apr 25, 2016• 1 citation
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Abstract

A correspondence of classical to quantum physics studied by Schrö\-dinger and Ehrenfest applies without the necessity of technical conjecture that classical observables are associated with Hermitian Hilbert space operators. This correspondence provides appropriate nonrelativistic classical interpretations to realizations of relativistic quantum physics that are incompatible with the canonical formalism. Using this correspondence, Newtonian mechanics for a $1/r$ potential provides approximations for the dynamics of nonrelativistic classical particle states within unconstrained quantum field theory (UQFT).

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1604.07654

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A correspondence of classical to quantum physics studied by Schrö-dinger and Ehrenfest applies without the necessity of technical conjecture that classical observables are associated with Hermitian Hilbert space operators. This correspondence provides appropriate nonrelativistic classical interpretations to realizations of relativistic quantum physics that are incompatible with the canonical formalism. Using this correspondence, Newtonian mechanics for a 1/r1/r1/r potential provides approximations for the dynamics of nonrelativistic classical particle states within unconstrained quantum field theory (UQFT).
The approximations of classical mechanics resulting from quantum mechanics are richer than a correspondence of classical dynamical variables with self-adjoint Hilbert space operators. Assertion that classical dynamic variables correspond to self-adjoint Hilbert space operators is disputable and sets unnatural limits on quantum mechanics. Well known examples of classical dynamical variables not associated with self-adjoint Hilbert space operators are discussed as a motivation for the realizations of quantum field theory that lack Hermitian field operators but exhibit interaction.
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Newtonian and Schrodinger dynamics can be formulated in a physically meaningful way within the same Hilbert space framework. This fact was recently used to discover an unexpected relation between classical and quantum motions that goes beyond the results provided by the Ehrenfest theorem. The Newtonian dynamics was shown to be the Schrodinger dynamics of states constrained to a submanifold of the space of states, identified with the classical phase space of the system. Quantum observables are identified with vector fields on the space of states. The commutators of observables are expressed through the curvature of the space. The resulting embedding of the Newtonian and Schrodinger dynamics into a unified geometric framework is rigid in the sense that the Schrodinger dynamics is a unique extension of the Newtonian one. Under the embedding, the normal distribution of measurement results associated with a classical measurement implies the Born rule for the probability of transition of quantum states. The mathematics of the discovered relationship between the classical and the quantum is reviewed and investigated here in detail, and applied to the process of measurement of spin and position observables.
Newtonian and Schrödinger dynamics can be formulated in a physically meaningful way within the same Hilbert space framework. This fact was recently used to discover an unexpected relation between classical and quantum motions that goes beyond the results provided by the Ehrenfest theorem. The Newtonian dynamics was shown to be the Schrödinger dynamics of states constrained to a submanifold of the space of states, identified with the classical phase space of the system. Quantum observables are identified with vector fields on the space of states. The commutators of observables are expressed through the curvature of the space. The resulting embedding of the Newtonian and Schrödinger dynamics into a unified geometric framework is rigid in the sense that the Schrödinger dynamics is a unique extension of the Newtonian one. Under the embedding, the normal distribution of measurement results associated with a classical measurement implies the Born rule for the probability of transition of quantum states. The mathematics of the discovered relationship between the classical and the quantum is reviewed and investigated here in detail and applied to the process of measurement of spin and position observables.