Feynman rules for probability amplitudes

Ming-Kai Chern

M.T. Grisaru, M. H. Zaidi

K. Robert Müller

Pedro Sancho

An extension of Feynman's rule, relating probability amplitudes and probabilities in two-photon interferometry, has been proposed recently [G. Jaeger et al., Phys. Rev. A 48, 1023 (1993)]. It would be interesting to analyze the validity of this rule in other physical situations not considered by these authors. In particular, we show in this paper that the extended rule cannot be applied to the gedanken two-slit experiment. This result suggests the existence of two quantum regimes, differentiated by the validity of the generalized rule. The distinguishability of one particle and the visibilities of one-particle and two-particle interferences are calculated. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Philip Goyal

Feynman's formulation of quantum theory is remarkable in its combination of formal simplicity and computational power. However, as a formulation of the abstract structure of quantum theory, it is incomplete as it does not account for most of the fundamental mathematical structure of the standard von Neumann--Dirac formalism such as the unitary evolution of quantum states. In this paper, we show how to reconstruct the entirety of the finite-dimensional quantum formalism starting from Feynman's rules with the aid of a single physical postulate, the no-disturbance postulate. This postulate states that a particular class of measurements have no effect on the outcome probabilities of subsequent measurements performed. We also show how it is possible to derive both the amplitude rule for composite systems of distinguishable subsystems and Dirac's amplitude-action rule, each from a single elementary and natural assumption, by making use of the fact that these assumptions must be consistent with Feynman's rules.

J. L. Cohen, P. R. Berman

Density-matrix calculations provide the steady-state conditions for probe amplification or lasing between atomic levels with an uninverted population, but additional insight into the underlying physics is given by a probability amplitude approach. In this paper we derive the gain coefficient from the Feynman diagrams for a probe-laser incident on a resonantly pumped, V-type system using time-dependent perturbation theory in a dressed basis. The connection is made to density-matrix calculations for this model, which have been used recently to describe experiments in Rb [A. S. Zibrov et al., Laser Phys. 5, 553 (1995); Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 1499 (1995)]. In the density-matrix calculation the overall gain is possible because the pump-induced coherence of a strongly driven transition leads to probe amplification, despite the lack of inversion on the probe transition. In our amplitude approach we associate a specific physical process with each of the scattering channels for the probe and show how amplification without inversion can be achieved. The amplitude calculation reveals a distinction between stepwise and two-quantum processes. Interference is shown to result from the two-quantum processes, constructive for the amplification channels and destructive for the absorption. Terms appearing in the gain coefficient are traced to different sources in the amplitude and density-matrix approaches. The physical origin of each term is discussed and compared for both approaches. Terms that arise from coherences in the density-matrix approach are shown to correspond to noninterfering stepwise contributions in the amplitude approach. In deriving these results, we find that the Feynman rules that we construct for forming the probability amplitude for an arbitrary scattering process of the electromagnetic field from the coupled atom-strong pump system are consistent with Rayleigh-Schr\"odinger perturbation theory in the quantum dressed basis. In addition, the spontaneously emitted photons become entangled with the probe field, correlating the emission spectrum with specific scattering channels.