Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Canadian Journal of Physics

THE MULTIPOLE EXPANSION IN QUANTUM THEORY

Jan Fiutak

Published Jan 1, 1963• 123 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Hamiltonian of a system of charged particles interacting with the electromagnetic field is investigated. For an arbitrary system the multipole expansion of the interaction between the system and the field is derived by means of a suitable canonical transformation. The transformed Hamiltonian is obtained from the Hamiltonian of the system by replacing the momenta by the transformed kinetic momenta and by adding to the Hamiltonian a term representing the interaction of the system with the electric component of the field. By expanding this interaction term, as well as the transformed momenta, in powers of the dimension of the system over the wavelength, the multipole expansion of the Hamiltonian is obtained. For a system interacting with a classical field the multipole form of the Hamiltonian is exactly equivalent to the original Hamiltonian. For a quantized field this is not true, and the multipole form of the transformed Hamiltonian is shown to be equivalent to the original Hamiltonian only for first-order radiation processes.

DOI
10.1139/p63-002

Related papers

Further remarks on the Hamiltonian of quantum optics

Edwin Albert Power, T. Thirunamachandran

The equations of motion and the class of Hamiltonians for electrodynamics, both classical and quantal, are considered for the interaction of radiation with bound charges within the electric-dipole approximation. It is emphasized that, despite the uniqueness of the equations of motion for physical variables, the form of the Hamiltonian is not unique and that a physical system is associated with an equivalence class of Hamiltonians. Two of the members of this class are the minimal-coupling and multipolar forms extensively used in quantum optics. It is shown that although different choices of Hamiltonians lead to different first-order equations of motion that connect canonical coordinates and momenta, they lead to the same second-order equations of motion for the physical variables and physical electromagnetic fields. In the quantum theory of electrodynamics the role played by the choice of representation for the operators and for the states is analyzed with care. The choice of representation leads to a freedom additional to that provided by canonical transformations in classical electrodyamics, although the two lead to the same operator equations of motion.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Jul 1, 1985•18 citations

Multipole expansions in quantum radiation theory

M. Ya. Agre

With the help of mathematical technique of irreducible tensors the multipole expansion for the probability amplitude of spontaneous radiation of a quantum system is derived. It is shown that the found series represents the total radiation amplitude in the form of the sum of radiation amplitudes of electric and magnetis multipole photons. All information about the radiating system is contained in the coefficients of the series which are the irreducible tensors being determined by the current density of transition. The expansion can be used for solving different problems that arise in studying electromagnetic field-quantum system interaction both in long-wave approximation and outside its framework.

arXiv:1410.2232•Oct 7, 2014•0 citations

Äquivalente Operatoren der Wechselwirkung zwischen Atomen und elektromagnetischem Feld

Heinz Steudel

Abstract As well‐known the dynamical interaction theory of molecules or atoms with the electromagnetic field may be based alternatively on one of two HAMILTONians, IH or IIH. where the vector potential appears in the interaction term of IH while this of IIH is expressed in terms of the electric and the magnetic field strength coupled to atomic multipoles. Using a calculus of transversal functional derivation with respect to a vector function we show that we can go from IH to IIH by a comperatively simple canonical transformation which may be interpreted within the classical theory as well as within as the quantized theory. The equivalence of both HAMILTONians is lost if, as customary in quantum optics, only a few atomic levels are taken into account. We give a plausible argument that in this case the multipole HAMILTONian IIH is more suitable.

Annalen der Physik•Jan 1, 1972•1 citation

Current density and electric and magnetic multipole-moment operators in quantum mechanics

T. F. Meister, B. U. Felderhof

The authors define the quantum-mechanical current density operator for general Hamiltonian operators and hence define electric and magnetic multipole-moment operators in close correspondence with the classical case. General Hamiltonian operators are transformed to multipole form by canonical transformation. As examples we treat the charge exchange interaction and relativistic corrections to the magnetic moment of an electron moving in a central potential.

Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General•Jan 1, 1980•3 citations

On a generalization of the Power–Zienau–Woolley transformation in quantum electrodynamics and atomic field equations

M. Babiker, Edwin Albert Power, T. Thirunamachandran

Abstract A canonical transformation is performed on the conventional Hamiltonian for the electromagnetic radiation field and an assemblage of neutral molecules in interaction. The new Hamiltonian has interaction energies expressed in terms of the electromagnetic fields alone and these energies have direct physical significance. The terms linear in e are the multipole interactions, both electric and magnetic, and the term quadratic in e is a generalization of the elementary diamagnetic energy shift. The intermolecular Coulomb energies have cancelled with transverse polarization fields in the new Hamiltonian, although the intramolecular Coulomb potentials are left unaffected. The equations of motion that follow from the new Hamiltonian are deduced. They are the so-called atomic-field equations for the Maxwell fields and Schrödinger equation for an electron wave in a transverse electromagnetic field. The former are the microscopic analogues of Maxwell’s equations in a medium (not restricted to dipole polarization fields) and the latter are dependent on the field strengths alone (not explicit functions of the vector potential).

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences•Jun 4, 1974•93 citations

Quantization of free radiation

G. Grynberg, Alain Aspect, Claude Fabre +1 more

Many processes, including absorption and stimulated emission occurring in lasers, can be handled using a semi-classical model for the atom–radiation interaction, in which the matter is given a quantum description, but the radiation is represented as a classical electromagnetic field (see Chapter 2). There are other phenomena that cannot be adequately described without quantizing the radiation. For example, it has been known since the 1930s that spontaneous emission can only be treated correctly using a fully quantum framework for the interaction, in which both the matter and the radiation are quantized, as we shall see in Chapter 6. However, it was not until the 1970s that situations were found in which a free electromagnetic field , far from sources, exhibited properties and behaviour that could not be described by a classical field, but which could be perfectly well interpreted in terms of a quantized field. This chapter is devoted to the quantization of the free electromagnetic field, far from the charges and currents sourcing it. This free electromagnetic field will be called radiation , and in Chapter 6 we shall specify exactly what is meant by radiation when sources are present. The canonical quantization procedure used here starts from a description of the classical dynamics of the field in the framework of the Hamiltonian formalism, the basic features of which are discussed in Section 4.1.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•Sep 2, 2010•0 citations
The Hamiltonian of a system of charged particles interacting with the electromagnetic field is investigated. For an arbitrary system the multipole expansion of the interaction between the system and the field is derived by means of a suitable canonical transformation. The transformed Hamiltonian is obtained from the Hamiltonian of the system by replacing the momenta by the transformed kinetic momenta and by adding to the Hamiltonian a term representing the interaction of the system with the electric component of the field. By expanding this interaction term, as well as the transformed momenta, in powers of the dimension of the system over the wavelength, the multipole expansion of the Hamiltonian is obtained. For a system interacting with a classical field the multipole form of the Hamiltonian is exactly equivalent to the original Hamiltonian. For a quantized field this is not true, and the multipole form of the transformed Hamiltonian is shown to be equivalent to the original Hamiltonian only for first-order radiation processes.
The equations of motion and the class of Hamiltonians for electrodynamics, both classical and quantal, are considered for the interaction of radiation with bound charges within the electric-dipole approximation. It is emphasized that, despite the uniqueness of the equations of motion for physical variables, the form of the Hamiltonian is not unique and that a physical system is associated with an equivalence class of Hamiltonians. Two of the members of this class are the minimal-coupling and multipolar forms extensively used in quantum optics. It is shown that although different choices of Hamiltonians lead to different first-order equations of motion that connect canonical coordinates and momenta, they lead to the same second-order equations of motion for the physical variables and physical electromagnetic fields. In the quantum theory of electrodynamics the role played by the choice of representation for the operators and for the states is analyzed with care. The choice of representation leads to a freedom additional to that provided by canonical transformations in classical electrodyamics, although the two lead to the same operator equations of motion.
With the help of mathematical technique of irreducible tensors the multipole expansion for the probability amplitude of spontaneous radiation of a quantum system is derived. It is shown that the found series represents the total radiation amplitude in the form of the sum of radiation amplitudes of electric and magnetis multipole photons. All information about the radiating system is contained in the coefficients of the series which are the irreducible tensors being determined by the current density of transition. The expansion can be used for solving different problems that arise in studying electromagnetic field-quantum system interaction both in long-wave approximation and outside its framework.
Abstract As well‐known the dynamical interaction theory of molecules or atoms with the electromagnetic field may be based alternatively on one of two HAMILTONians, IH or IIH. where the vector potential appears in the interaction term of IH while this of IIH is expressed in terms of the electric and the magnetic field strength coupled to atomic multipoles. Using a calculus of transversal functional derivation with respect to a vector function we show that we can go from IH to IIH by a comperatively simple canonical transformation which may be interpreted within the classical theory as well as within as the quantized theory. The equivalence of both HAMILTONians is lost if, as customary in quantum optics, only a few atomic levels are taken into account. We give a plausible argument that in this case the multipole HAMILTONian IIH is more suitable.
Abstract A canonical transformation is performed on the conventional Hamiltonian for the electromagnetic radiation field and an assemblage of neutral molecules in interaction. The new Hamiltonian has interaction energies expressed in terms of the electromagnetic fields alone and these energies have direct physical significance. The terms linear in e are the multipole interactions, both electric and magnetic, and the term quadratic in e is a generalization of the elementary diamagnetic energy shift. The intermolecular Coulomb energies have cancelled with transverse polarization fields in the new Hamiltonian, although the intramolecular Coulomb potentials are left unaffected. The equations of motion that follow from the new Hamiltonian are deduced. They are the so-called atomic-field equations for the Maxwell fields and Schrödinger equation for an electron wave in a transverse electromagnetic field. The former are the microscopic analogues of Maxwell’s equations in a medium (not restricted to dipole polarization fields) and the latter are dependent on the field strengths alone (not explicit functions of the vector potential).
Many processes, including absorption and stimulated emission occurring in lasers, can be handled using a semi-classical model for the atom–radiation interaction, in which the matter is given a quantum description, but the radiation is represented as a classical electromagnetic field (see Chapter 2). There are other phenomena that cannot be adequately described without quantizing the radiation. For example, it has been known since the 1930s that spontaneous emission can only be treated correctly using a fully quantum framework for the interaction, in which both the matter and the radiation are quantized, as we shall see in Chapter 6. However, it was not until the 1970s that situations were found in which a free electromagnetic field , far from sources, exhibited properties and behaviour that could not be described by a classical field, but which could be perfectly well interpreted in terms of a quantized field. This chapter is devoted to the quantization of the free electromagnetic field, far from the charges and currents sourcing it. This free electromagnetic field will be called radiation , and in Chapter 6 we shall specify exactly what is meant by radiation when sources are present. The canonical quantization procedure used here starts from a description of the classical dynamics of the field in the framework of the Hamiltonian formalism, the basic features of which are discussed in Section 4.1.