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Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General

Wigner distribution functions and the representation of canonical transformations in quantum mechanics

Gastón García‐Calderón, M. Moshińsky

Published Jun 1, 1980• 49 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Shows how for classical canonical transformations the authors can pass, with the help of Wigner distribution functions, from their representation U in the configurational Hilbert space to a kernel K in phase space. The latter is a much more transparent way of looking at representations of canonical transformations, as the classical limit is reached when h(cross) to 0 and the successive quantum corrections are related with the power of h(cross) 2n , n=1,2, et seq.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/13/6/004

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Shows how for classical canonical transformations the authors can pass, with the help of Wigner distribution functions, from their representation U in the configurational Hilbert space to a kernel K in phase space. The latter is a much more transparent way of looking at representations of canonical transformations, as the classical limit is reached when h(cross) to 0 and the successive quantum corrections are related with the power of h(cross) 2n , n=1,2, et seq.
In a previous paper, with a similar title, the authors showed that for bijective (i.e. one-to-one onto) canonical transformations they can obtain their quantum mechanical representations in the form of a kernel in the phase space of Wigner distribution functions and recover the classical expectation for this kernel in the limit to 0. For non-bijective canonical transformations the situation is more complex as the phase space acquires either a Riemann surface structure or requires the introduction of the concept of an ambiguity group. By discussing the non-bijective canonical transformation taking them from an oscillator of frequency kappa -1 , where kappa is an integer, to one of unit frequency, they see how the kernel is generalised to include the indices associated with the irreducible representations of the ambiguity group, i.e. the ambiguity spins. They obtain the kernel explicitly and show that in the limit to 0 they recover the form that they expect in the Riemann surface picture of their phase space. While they illustrate their analysis through the representation in Wigner distribution phase space of a specific non-bijective canonical transformation, the procedure is clearly extendable to the representations of general canonical transformations of this type.
This chapter presents some of the features of the phase space picture. For quantum mechanical systems Eugene Paul Wigner introduced a quantum analogue of a phase space probability distribution called Wigner distribution function or phase space picture. Using the Wigner distribution function it is possible to perform a canonical transformation in quantum mechanics. The phase space picture is a useful candidate to illustrate the transition from classical to quantum mechanics. The Poisson brackets and canonical transformations are part of the effective formulation of classical mechanics. In the infinite height potential video sequences of the evolution of Wigner functions for a wave function of a wave packet and its mirror wave packet is constructed. The chapter also presents the application of the canonical transformations and phase space distribution function in the study of wave packet spread and coherent and squeezed states.
In the last few years an extensive literature has developed on linear canonical tranformations and their representation in quantum mechanics. Applications of these results have been made to clustering theory in nuclei, problems of accidental degeneracy, etc. In the present paper we wish to turn our attention to nonlinear canonical transformations. We show that by dealing with appropriate functions fα (α=1,...,2n) of xi, pi (i=1,...,n) rather than with these variables themselves, we can in principle set unambiguously the equations that determine the representation in quantum mechanics of the canonical transformation under study. This result holds when the old and new functions fα have the same spectrum. We discuss specific examples when this last condition is satisfied: nonlinear canonical transformations in the radial variable that were obtained from projection of linear ones in higher-dimensional spaces; canonical transformations that take us from one Hamiltonian to another with the same spectrum, be this one continuous or discrete; canonical transformations that relate two sets of integrals of motion (which include the Hamiltonians) when we are dealing with phase spaces of dimensions higher than 2, etc. We discuss briefly, in the concluding section, the possibility of extending our analysis to canonical tranformations that do not conserve the spectrum of the relevant operators.
The Weyl correspondence for obtaining quantum operators from functions of classical coordinates and momenta is known to be incorrect. To calculate quantum-mechanical expectation values as phase-space averages with the Wigner density function, one cannot use classical functions but must use Weyl transforms. These transforms are defined and their properties derived from quantum mechanics. Their properties are expressed in terms of a Hermitian operator Δ(Q, K) whose Weyl transform is a δ function. The Wigner function is the transform of the density operator. Every Weyl transform is exhibited as a difference of two functions which are nonnegative on the phase spece. Weyl transforms do not obey the algebra of classical functions. In the classical limit ℏ → 0, Weyl transforms become classical functions, the Wigner function becomes nonnegative throughout the phase space, and the Hilbert space is spanned by an orthonormal set of vectors which are simultaneous eigenkets of the commuting coordinate and momentum operators.