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arXiv:2011.08715

Models of Discrete Linear Evolution for Quantum Systems

Jakub Káninský

Published Nov 17, 2020• 1 citation
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Abstract

Discrete canonical evolution is a key tool for understanding the dynamics in discrete models of spacetime, in particular those represented by a triangular Regge lattice. We consider a finite-dimensional system whose evolution is realized by a series of discrete-time evolution steps governed by Hamiltonian equations of motion that are linear in the canonical coordinates. The evolution is allowed to be irregular, which produces constraints as well as non-uniqueness of solutions. We provide two independent and fundamentally different approaches to canonical quantization of this system, including detailed description of the evolution maps, measurement and path integrals. It is argued that some irregular discrete systems may be most naturally described by a non-unitary quantum evolution. The formalism is then applied to a simple yet physically relevant model of massless scalar field on a two-dimensional spacetime lattice.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2011.08715

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Discrete canonical evolution is a key tool for understanding the dynamics in discrete models of spacetime, in particular those represented by a triangular Regge lattice. We consider a finite-dimensional system whose evolution is realized by a series of discrete-time evolution steps governed by Hamiltonian equations of motion that are linear in the canonical coordinates. The evolution is allowed to be irregular, which produces constraints as well as non-uniqueness of solutions. We provide two independent and fundamentally different approaches to canonical quantization of this system, including detailed description of the evolution maps, measurement and path integrals. It is argued that some irregular discrete systems may be most naturally described by a non-unitary quantum evolution. The formalism is then applied to a simple yet physically relevant model of massless scalar field on a two-dimensional spacetime lattice.
We study a single quantum particle in discrete spacetime evolving in a causal way. We see that in the continuum limit, any massless particle with a two-dimensional internal degree of freedom obeys the Weyl equation, provided that we perform a simple relabeling of the coordinate axes or demand rotational symmetry in the continuum limit. It is surprising that this occurs regardless of the specific details of the evolution: it would be natural to assume that discrete evolutions giving rise to relativistic dynamics in the continuum limit would be very special cases. We also see that the same is not true for particles with larger internal degrees of freedom, by looking at an example with a three-dimensional internal degree of freedom that is not relativistic in the continuum limit. In the process, we give a formula for the Hamiltonian arising from the continuum limit of massless and massive particles in discrete spacetime.
We test the idea that transformations which, at the classical level, can be interpreted as evolutions are represented within quantum mechanics by unitary operators. To this end, we consider non-trivial canonical transformations which leave invariant the form of the Hamilton function of a system. We demonstrate that infinite families of such transformations exist for a variety of familiar conservative systems of one degree of freedom. We show how the precise form of integral equations for the stationary state wavefunctions implied by the existence of these canonical transformations can be pinned down by exploiting the algebra of the transformations and a symmetry of their generating functions. We recover several integral equations found in the literature on standard special functions of mathematical physics. We find that when one of the classical canonical transformations we consider is non-linear, its quantum implementation is non-unitary. We end with some comments on the implications of our findings for semiclassical studies and a brief discussion relevant to string theory of the generalization to scalar field theories in 1 + 1 dimensions.
We develop a path integral representation for the dynamics of quantum systems with a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, formulated entirely within a discrete phase space. Starting from the discrete Wigner function on Zd×Zd{\mathbb{Z}_d} \times {\mathbb{Z}_d}Zd​×Zd​ (ddd an odd prime) and the associated Weyl transform built from generalized displacement operators, we derive an exact kernel that propagates the discrete Wigner function in time and, by iterating its composition law through a short-time approximation, obtain a sum-over-paths expression weighted by a discrete phase-space action -- the natural finite-dimensional counterpart of Marinov's functional. For Hamiltonians linear in the phase-space coordinates and at times strictly commensurate with the lattice, the fluctuation sum collapses to a deterministic shift, realizing the discrete analog of classical Hamiltonian flow. Applying the formalism to one and to two interacting qutrits (d=3d=3d=3), we show that the full entanglement dynamics -- captured by a closed-form linear entropy valid for all times -- requires the coherent contribution of all fluctuation sectors; the boundary-term (mean-field) sector alone fails to reproduce it. For a non-stabilizer Hamiltonian, where the short-time kernel is only approximate, the time-sliced path integral converges to the exact dynamics, including the dynamical generation of Wigner negativity. We discuss implications for the semiclassical simulation of many-body spin systems and for the characterization of non-classicality through Wigner negativity.
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The Wigner problem, i.e. the investigation of general quantum mechanical commutation relations consistent with the Heisenberg evolution equations of a given shape, is studied. We follow a recently proposed generalization of this idea within which the classical analogy is postulated only for the shape of the time evolution equations and not for a Hamiltonian itself. This links our investigation to the problem of alternative Hamiltonians of classical mechanics and to canonically inequivalent phase-space descriptions of physical systems governed by the same Newton equations of motion. Warned that the time evolution and the other symmetry generators may be given ambiguously even in the formalism of classical mechanics, we do not a priori assume the shape of their quantum analogues. Instead we only require that the set of basic algebraic relations, which quantum mechanical observables are to obey, has a Lie algebra structure. Such a requirement appears to be sufficient to find solutions for simple oscillator-like dynamics. New algebras of quantum mechanical observables are not constructed as a linear envelope of the Heisenberg algebra, and their representations reflect physical results unexpected in the framework of the canonical approach. We illustrate our approach in detail for the example of the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator using the representation of the generalized coherent states.
A canonical quantum formalism for discrete systems subject to a discretization changing dynamics is outlined. This framework enables one to systematically study (non-)unitarity of such dynamics, the role of canonical constraints and the fate of Dirac observables on temporally varying discretizations. It will be illustrated how the formalism can also be employed to generate a vacuum for a scalar field on an evolving lattice. Implications for the dynamics in simplicial quantum gravity models are commented on.