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Il Nuovo cimento della Società italiana di fisica. B/Il Nuovo cimento B

Classically equivalent Hamiltonians and ambiguities of quantization: A particle in a magnetic field

V. V. Dodonov, Vladimir I. Man’ko, Vladimir D. Skarzhinsky

Published Jun 1, 1982• 14 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1007/bf02721265

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arXiv:gr-qc/9904042•Apr 19, 1999•1 citation
Abstract In Chapter 2, a path integral representation of the quantum operator e-β H in the case of Hamiltonians H of the separable form p2/2m + V(q) has been constructed. Here, the construction is extended to Hamiltonians that are more general functions of phase space variables. This results in integrals over paths in phase space involving the action expressed in terms of the classical Hamiltonian H(p,q). However, it is shown that, in the general case, the path integral is not completely defined, and this reflects the problem that the classical Hamiltonian does not specify completely the quantum Hamiltonian, due to the problem of ordering quantum operators in products. When the Hamiltonian is a quadratic function of the momentum variables, the integral over momenta is Gaussian and can be performed. In the separable example, the path integral of Chapter 2 is recovered. In the case of the charged particle in a magnetic field a more general form is found, which is ambiguous, since a problem of operator ordering arises, and the ambiguity must be fixed. Hamiltonians that are general quadratic functions provide other important examples, which are analysed thoroughly. Such Hamiltonians appear in the quantization of the motion on Riemannian manifolds. There, the problem of ambiguities is even more severe. The problem is illustrated by the analysis of the quantization of the free motion on the sphere SN−1.
For a free falling particle moving in a media which has quadratic velocity force effect on the particle, two equivalent constants of motion, with units of energy, two Lagrangians, and two Hamiltonians are deduced. These quantities describe the dynamics of the same classical system. However, their quantization and the associated statistical mechanics (for an ensemble of particles) describe two completely different quantum and statistical systems. This is shown at first order in the dissipative parameter.
One classical theory, as determined by an equation of motion or set of classical trajectories, can correspond to many unitarily {\em in}equivalent quantum theories upon canonical quantization. This arises from a remarkable ambiguity, not previously investigated, in the construction of the classical (and hence the quantized) Hamiltonian or Lagrangian. This ambiguity is illustrated for systems with one degree of freedom: An arbitrary function of the constants of motion can be introduced into this construction. For example, the nonrelativistic and relativistic free particles follow identical classical trajectories, but the Hamiltonians or Lagrangians, and the canonically quantized versions of these descriptions, are inequivalent. Inequivalent descriptions of other systems, such as the harmonic oscillator, are also readily obtained.