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International Journal of Modern Physics A

GAUGE INVARIANCE AND WARD-TAKAHASHI IDENTITY IN QUANTUM MECHANICS

H. W. L. Naus, Jan‐Willem G. Bos, Justus H. Koch

Published Mar 10, 1992• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In a Lagrange formulation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics gauge invariance corresponds to a local U(1) symmetry of the Lagrangian density. We review how this gauge symmetry yields the electromagnetic interaction of the free and the locally interacting N-body system and why nonlocal interactions require additional exchange contributions. A nonrelativistic Ward-Takahashi identity is then derived. This relates electromagnetic operators to the full propagator of the particles in question, which may be off their energy shell.

DOI
10.1142/s0217751x92000521

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In a Lagrange formulation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics gauge invariance corresponds to a local U(1) symmetry of the Lagrangian density. We review how this gauge symmetry yields the electromagnetic interaction of the free and the locally interacting N-body system and why nonlocal interactions require additional exchange contributions. A nonrelativistic Ward-Takahashi identity is then derived. This relates electromagnetic operators to the full propagator of the particles in question, which may be off their energy shell.
A Ward-Takahashi identity, as a consequence of gauge invariance and in a form that relates self-energy to the two-particle Bethe-Salpeter scattering kernel, was first derived by Vollhardt and Wölfle for a system of independent particles moving in a random medium. This is generalized to a class of interacting electronic systems in materials with or without random impurities, following a procedure previously used for classical waves transport in disordered media. This class of systems also possesses other symmetry properties such as invariance under time translations and local spin rotations, which imply local conservation laws for energy and spin current. They imply additional Vollhardt-Wölfle type identities. We present non-perturbative derivations of these identities, and consider the constraints they impose on the relationship between the self-energy and the two-particle scattering kernel. PACS numbers: 11.30.-j, 03.80.+r, 72.10.Bg 1 Ward identities are statements of local conservation laws, and reflect the corresponding
We derive the Ward-Takahashi identity and establish the gauge-invariant response theory for open quantum systems described by Lindbladians to show that particle-number conservation is not necessary to satisfy gauge invariance. We construct an observable which can be used to test the gauge invariance in the absence of particle-number conservation. We derive the low-energy collective modes that emerge as a consequence of gauge invariance in open quantum systems, and find that two-body loss induces diffusive modes in dissipative Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductivity. Possible experimental situations for testing gauge invariance in open quantum systems are also discussed.
The distinction between gauge independence and gauge covariance in electrodynamics is considered for quantities of physical interest. The gauge independence of directly observable quantities, such as the spectra of operators and energy conserving transition rates, is discussed and contrasted with the gauge covariance of other quantities such as scalar products. The quasigauge-invariance of the classical Lagrangian and the invariance of the Euler-Lagrange equations under the addition of a total time derivative to the Lagrangian are discussed. The consequent inherent nonuniqueness of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of classical mechanics is pointed out. A physical interpretation of the explicit gauge dependence of classical canonical momenta and of the expectation values of the corresponding quantum mechanical operators is presented. The gauge independence of energy conserving transition rates calculated in the conventional finite-order time dependent perturbation theory is discussed and illustrated. The gauge dependence of the conventional time dependent transition amplitudes in the presence of electromagnetic fields is then discussed, and gauge independent transition amplitudes are constructed. An alternative formulation of the quantum mechanics of charged particles is obtained in terms of a new gauge independent Hamiltonian, which is, as might be expected, unique only within an arbitrary canonical transformation.
The main purpose of this paper is to further our theoretical understanding of the fractional quantum Hall effect, in particular of spin effects, in two-dimensional incompressible electron fluids subject to a strong, transverse magnetic field. As a prerequisite for an analysis of the quantum Hall effect, the authors develop a general formulation of the many-body theory of spinning particles coupled to external electromagnetic fields and moving through a general, geometrically nontrivial background. Their formulation is based on a Lagrangian path-integral quantization and is valid in arbitrary coordinates, including coordinates moving according to a volume-preserving flow. It is found that nonrelativistic quantum theory exhibits a fundamental, local U(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2) gauge invariance, and the corresponding gauge fields are identified with physical, external fields. To illustrate the usefulness of their formalism, the authors prove a general form of the quantum-mechanical Larmor theorem and discuss some well-known effects, including the Barnett-Einstein-de Haas effect and superconductivity, emphasizing the implications of U(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2) gauge invariance. They then consider two-dimensional, incompressible quantum fluids in more detail. Exploiting U(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2) gauge invariance, they calculate the leading terms in the effective actions of such systems as functionals of the U(1) and SU(2) gauge fields, on large-distance and low-frequency scales. Among the applications of these results are a simple proof of the Goldstone theorem for spin waves and the linearresponse theory of two-dimensional, incompressible Hall fluids, including a Hall effect for spin currents and sum rules for the response coefficients. For two-dimensional, incompressible systems with broken parity and time-reversal symmetry, a particularly significant implication of U(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2) gauge invariance is a duality between the physics inside the bulk of the system and the physics of gapless, chiral modes propagating along the boundary of the system. These modes form chiral $\stackrel{^}{\mathrm{u}}(1)$ and $\mathrm{s}\stackrel{^}{\mathrm{u}}(2)$ current algebras. The representation theory of these current algebras, combined with natural physical constraints, permits one to derive the quantization of the response coefficients, such as the Hall conductivity. A classification of incompressible Hall fluids is outlined, and many examples, including one concerning a superfluid 3He^{3}\mathrm{He}3He-AB\frac{A}{B}BA​ interface, are discussed.
A system of nonrelativistic charged particles and radiation is canonically quantized in the Coulomb gauge and Maxwell's equations in quantum electrodynamics are derived. By requiring form invariance of the Schrodinger equation under a space and time dependent unitary transformation, operator gauge transformations on the quantized electromagnetic potentials and state vectors are introduced. These gauge transformed potentials have the same form as gauge transformations in non-Abelian gauge field theories. A gauge-invariant method for solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in quantum electrodynamics is given. Maxwell's equations are written in a form which holds in all gauges and which has formal similarity to the equations of motion of non-Abelian gauge fields. A gauge-invariant derivation of conservation of energy in quantum electrodynamics is given. An operator gauge transformation is made to the multipolar gauge in which the potentials are expressed in terms of the electromagnetic fields. The multipolar Hamiltonian is shown to be the minimally coupled Hamiltonian with the electromagnetic potentials in the multipolar gauge. The model of a charged harmonic oscillator in a single-mode electromagnetic field is considered as an example. The gauge-invariant procedure for solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation is used to obtain the gauge-invariant probabilities that the oscillator is in an energy eigenstate For comparison, the conventional approach is also used to solve the harmonic oscillator problem and is shown to give gauge-dependent amplitudes.