Some applications of functional integration

J. LaChapelle

Some well-known examples of constrained quantum systems commonly quantized via Feynman path integrals are re-examined using the notion of conditional integrators introduced in [1]. The examples yield some new perspectives on old results. As an interesting new application, the formalism is used to construct a physical model of average prime counting functions modeled as a constrained gamma process.

Victor Nikolaevich Popov

Functional integration is one of the most powerful methods of modern theoretical physics. The functional integration approach to systems with an infinite number of degrees of freedom turns out to be very suitable for the introduction and formulation of the diagram perturbation theory in quantum field theory and statistical physics. This approach is simpler than that using an operator method. The application of functional integrals in statistical physics allows one to derive numerous interesting results more quickly than when using other methods. The theories of phase transitions of the second kind, superfluidity, superconductivity, lasers, plasma, the Kondo effect, the Ising model – a list of problems which is far from complete, for which the application of the functional integration method appears to be very fruitful. In some of the problems, it allows us to give a rigorous proof of results obtained by other methods. If there is a possibility of an exact solution, the functional integration method gives a simple way to obtain it. In problems far from being exactly solvable (for example, the general theory of phase transitions), the application of functional integrals helps to build up a qualitative picture of the phenomenon and to develop the approximative methods of calculations. Functional integrals are especially useful for the description of collective excitations, such as plasma oscillations in the system of particles with Coulomb interaction, quantum vortices and long-wave phonons in superfluidity and superconductivity, collective modes in 3 He-type systems and in 3 He− 4 He mixtures.

Zbigniew Haba

Victor Nikolaevich Popov

This book describes the theory and selected applications of one of the most important mathematical tools used in the theoretical investigation of collective excitations in statistical physics, such as occur in superfluidity, superconductivity, plasma dynamics, superradiation, and in phase transitions. The author, who is a distinguished physicist and leading researcher in this area, begins with an introduction to functional integral techniques in equilibrium statistical thermodynamics, and discusses the expression of partition functions and Green functions in terms of functional integrals. Subsequent sections deal with the application of functional integrals in superfluid Bose systems, systems with Coulomb interaction, and superfluid Fermi systems. The final section considers the application of the concept of Bose-condensation of auxiliary fields to the theory of crystals, heavy atoms and also to the theory of model Hamiltonians (BCS and Dicke models).