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arXiv:1711.04357 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

The classical limit of a state on the Weyl algebra

Benjamin H. Feintzeig

Published Nov 1, 2018• 9 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

This paper considers states on the Weyl algebra of the canonical commutation relations over the phase space R2n. We show that a state is regular if and only if its classical limit is a countably additive Borel probability measure on R2n. It follows that one can “reduce” the state space of the Weyl algebra by altering the collection of quantum mechanical observables so that all states are ones whose classical limit is physical.

DOI
10.1063/1.5013249

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This paper considers states on the Weyl algebra of the canonical commutation relations over the phase space R2n. We show that a state is regular if and only if its classical limit is a countably additive Borel probability measure on R2n. It follows that one can “reduce” the state space of the Weyl algebra by altering the collection of quantum mechanical observables so that all states are ones whose classical limit is physical.
Relative to an irreducible representation of the canonical commutation relations, convolutions between quantum mechanical operators and between functions and operators are defined, for which the usual Weyl transform acts as a Fourier transform. Basic properties of these operations are developed in close analogy to harmonic analysis on R2n. Using the quantum version of Wiener’s approximation theorem, a natural one-to-one correspondence between the closed, phase-space translation invariant subspaces of classical and quantum observables is established.
Deformations of classical measures to noncommutative ones play an important role in quantum physics, and in semiclassical and microlocal analysis. In this paper, we characterize cluster points of nets of noncommutative measures acting on the tensor product of a Weyl C*-algebra of canonical commutation relations, and an arbitrary C*-algebra. The cluster points are classical vector cylindrical measures on the predual of the phase space, with values in the dual of the aforementioned C*-algebra. From a physical standpoint, they are interpreted as the partially classical states of composite systems.
We consider possible quantum effects for infinite systems implied by variations of the multiplication law in the algebra of observables. Using the algebraic formulation of quantum theory, we study the behavior of states ω under changes in the defining relations of the canonical commutation relations (CCR-algebra). These defining relations of the multiplication law depend explicitly on the symplectic form σ, which encodes commutation relations of canonical field operators. We consider the change in this form given by simple rescaling of σ by a positive parameter h. We analyze to what extent changes in h preserve the original state space (this gives restrictions on the admissible changes in the scaling parameter h) and which properties have original quantum states ω as states on the new algebra. We answer such questions for the quasi-free states. We show that any universally invariant state can be interpreted as a convex combination of Fock states with different values of constant h. The second important class of states we study is the KMS-state; here, the rescaling alters in a nontrivial way the relevant dynamics. We also show that it is possible to go beyond the limits restricting the changes in h, but then one has to restrict the CCR-algebra to a subalgebra.
It is well known from the work of Berezin [24] (Commun. Math. Phys. 40:153–174, 1975) in 1975 that the quantization problem of a classical mechanical system is closely related with coherent states. In particular coherent states help to understand the limiting behaviour of a quantum system when the Planck constant ℏ\hbar ℏ becomes negligible in macroscopic units. This problem is called the semi-classical limit problem. In this chapter we discuss properties of quantum systems when the configuration space is the Euclidean space Rn\mathbb R^nRn. So that in the Hamiltonian formalism, the phase space is Rn×Rn\mathbb R^n\times \mathbb R^nRn×Rn with its canonical symplectic form σ\sigma σ. The quantization problem has many solutions, so we choose a convient one, introduced by Weyl [259] (The Classical Groups, 1997) and Wigner [261] (Group Theory and Its Applications to Quantum Mechanics of Atomic Spectra, 1959). We study the symmetries of Weyl quantization, the operationnal calculus and applications to propagation of observables. We show that Wick quantization is a natural bridge between Weyl quantization and coherent states. Applications are given to the semi-classical limit after introducing an efficient modern tool: the semi-classical measures. We illustrate the general results proved in this chapter by explicit computations for the harmonic oscillator. More applications will be given in the following chapters, in particular concerning propagators and trace formulas for a large class of quantum systems.
Abstract Berezin and Weyl quantization are renowned procedures for mapping commutative Poisson algebras of observables to their non-commutative, quantum counterparts. The latter is famous for its use on Weyl algebras, while the former is more appropriate for continuous functions decaying at infinity. In this work, we define a variant of the Berezin quantization map, which acts on the classical Weyl algebra W(E,0)\mathcal {W}(E,0)W(E,0) W ( E , 0 ) and constitutes a positive strict deformation quantization . This construction provides a natural framework to compare classical and quantum thermal equilibrium states of a Bose gas through the computation of their semi-classical limit. To this end, we first introduce a purely algebraic notion of KMS states for the classical Weyl algebra and establish that, in finite volume, there exists a unique such state, which can be interpreted as the Fourier transform of a Gibbs measure on a Hilbert space. We then construct a new class of classical KMS states that realize representations of the canonical commutation relations with infinite local density. These states arise as the semi-classical high-density limit of the quantum equilibrium states originally studied by Araki and Woods [5]. A key feature of our approach is that it preserves the macroscopic ground-state occupation of the Bose gas in the classical regime. Finally, we demonstrate that the infinite-volume classical states can be obtained as thermodynamic limits of finite-volume Gibbs states.
The Weyl correspondence for obtaining quantum operators from functions of classical coordinates and momenta is known to be incorrect. To calculate quantum-mechanical expectation values as phase-space averages with the Wigner density function, one cannot use classical functions but must use Weyl transforms. These transforms are defined and their properties derived from quantum mechanics. Their properties are expressed in terms of a Hermitian operator Δ(Q, K) whose Weyl transform is a δ function. The Wigner function is the transform of the density operator. Every Weyl transform is exhibited as a difference of two functions which are nonnegative on the phase spece. Weyl transforms do not obey the algebra of classical functions. In the classical limit ℏ → 0, Weyl transforms become classical functions, the Wigner function becomes nonnegative throughout the phase space, and the Hilbert space is spanned by an orthonormal set of vectors which are simultaneous eigenkets of the commuting coordinate and momentum operators.