Classical and quantum mechanics of complex hamiltonian systems: An extended complex phase space approach

A. J. Leggett

Dieter Schuch, Moise Bonilla–Licea

Shortly after Schrödinger’s wave mechanics in terms of complex wave functions was published, Madelung formulated this theory in terms of two real hydrodynamic-like equations. This version is also the formal basis of Bohmian mechanics, albeit with a different ontological interpretation. A point of criticism raised by Pauli against Bohmian mechanics is its missing symmetry between position and momentum that is present in classical phase space as well as in the quantum mechanical position and momentum representations. Both Madelung’s quantum hydrodynamics formulation and Bohmian mechanics are usually expressed only in position space. Recently, with the use of complex quantities, we were able to provide a hydrodynamic formulation also in momentum space. In this paper, we extend this formalism to include dissipative systems with broken time-reversal symmetry. In classical Hamiltonian mechanics and conventional quantum mechanics, closed systems with reversible time-evolution are usually considered. Extending the discussion to include open systems with dissipation, another form of symmetry is broken, that under time-reversal. There are different ways of describing such systems; for instance, Langevin and Fokker–Planck-type equations are commonly used in classical physics. We now investigate how these aspects can be incorporated into our complex hydrodynamic description and what modifications occur in the corresponding equations, not only in position, but particularly in momentum space.

Wawrzyniec Guz

J. Arponen, R. F. Bishop, Erkki Pajanne

The quantum-mechanical many-body problem is studied using the extended coupled-cluster method (ECCM) as a convenient parametrization of the Hilbert space. A systematic development of the formalism is given, and the quantum-mechanical problem is cast into the form of a classical Hamiltonian field theory in a complex symplectic phase space. The equations of motion of the basic ECCM amplitudes are derived both from a dynamical action principle using the ECCM average-value functional, and directly from the Schr\"odinger equation using the ECCM double similarity transformation. Rules are given for the construction of the Hamiltonian and other observables as well as their products. In particular, commutators are shown to be mapped into generalized classical Poisson brackets. The description is interpreted as an exact bosonization of the quantum theory in which the concept of bosonization is carried to the logical extreme, namely, the resulting generalized coherent bosons are identifiable with classical fields. The quantum-mechanical states of the system are points in the ECCM phase space, and their time evolution, or trajectories, are controlled by a classical Hamiltonian. The bosonization has a perturbation-theoretical basis in terms of maximally linked generalized tree diagrams. The increased degree of locality of the basic amplitudes allows applications to topological excitations and cases with spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Nikola Buri ' c, Slobodan Prvanovi ' c

Quantum mechanical time operator is introduced following the parametric formulation of classical mechanics in the extended phase space. Quantum constraint on the extended quantum system is defined in analogy to the constraint of the classical extended system, and is interpreted as the condition defining the space of physical events. It is seen that the peculiar properties of the time observable, otherwise obtained in the models of time measurement, are of the classical origin, (i.e.), due to the quantized classical constraint of the parametric Hamiltonian dynamics.

Slobodan Prvanović