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Physical Review

A Path Integral for Spin

Lawrence S. Schulman

Published Dec 25, 1968• 329 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A path integral for spinning particles is developed. It is a one-particle theory, equivalent to the usual quantum mechanics. Our method employs a classical model for spin which is quantized by path integration. The model, the spherical top, is a natural one from a group-theoretic point of view and has been used before in a similar context. The curvature and multiple connectedness of the top coordinate space [$\mathrm{SO}(3)$] provide some interesting features in the sum over paths. The Green's function which results from this procedure propagates all spins, and recovery of the usual Pauli spinors from this formalism is achieved by projection to a specific spin subspace.

DOI
10.1103/physrev.176.1558

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A path integral for spinning particles is developed. It is a one-particle theory, equivalent to the usual quantum mechanics. Our method employs a classical model for spin which is quantized by path integration. The model, the spherical top, is a natural one from a group-theoretic point of view and has been used before in a similar context. The curvature and multiple connectedness of the top coordinate space [SO(3)\mathrm{SO}(3)SO(3)] provide some interesting features in the sum over paths. The Green's function which results from this procedure propagates all spins, and recovery of the usual Pauli spinors from this formalism is achieved by projection to a specific spin subspace.
By formulating a path integral in the SU(2) fiber bundle space, a nonrelativistic spinor particle moving in external electromagnetic fields is studied. This formulation is a direct extension of Schulman’s [Phys. Rev. 176, 1588 (1968)] continuous treatment for spin; it unifies all spin states to a spherical top model. This theory enjoys a definite classical theory with spin–orbital interactions and the corresponding semiclassical approximation for the path integral. This method is also applicable to a particle moving in a more general Yang–Mills field.
Exact Green’s function related to a Dirac particle submitted to the combination of Aharonov–Bohm and Coulomb potentials in [Formula: see text]) coordinate space is analytically calculated via path integral formalism. The Pauli matrices which describe the spin dynamics are replaced by two fermionic oscillators via the Schwinger model. The energy spectrum as well as the corresponding normalized wave functions are extracted following this approach. The interesting properties of the spinors are thus deduced after symmetrization. According to the symmetric form for Green’s function, it is shown that the non-relativistic limit of the Dirac particle is undertaken with much ease.
The path integral formulation of quantum mechanics constructs the propagator by evaluating the action S for all classical paths in coordinate space. A corresponding momentum path integral may also be defined through Fourier transforms in the endpoints. Although these momentum path integrals are especially simple for several special cases, no one has, to my knowledge, ever formally constructed them from all classical paths in momentum space. I show that this is possible because there exists another classical mechanics based on an alternate classical action R. Hamilton's Canonical equations result from a variational principle in both S and R. S uses fixed beginning and ending spatial points while R uses fixed beginning and ending momentum points. This alternative action's classical mechanics also includes a Hamilton-Jacobi equation. I also present some important points concerning the beginning and ending conditions on the action necessary to apply a Canonical transformation. These properties explain the failure of the Canonical transformation in the phase space path integral. It follows that a path integral may be constructed from classical position paths using S in the coordinate representation or from classical momentum paths using R in the momentum representation. Several example calculations are presented that illustrate the simplifications and practical advantages made possible by this broader view of the path integral. In particular, the normalized amplitude for a free particle is found without using the Schrodinger equation, the internal spin degree of freedom is simply and naturally derived, and the simple harmonic oscillator is calculated.
The aim of this chapter is to introduce the concept of the Feynman path integral. As well as developing the general construction scheme, particular emphasis is placed on establishing the interconnections between the quantum mechanical path integral, classical Hamiltonian mechanics, and classical statistical mechanics. The practice of path integration is discussed in the context of several pedagogical applications. As well as the canonical examples of a quantum particle in a single and a double potential well, we discuss the generalization of the path integral scheme to tunneling of extended objects (quantum fields), dissipative and thermally assisted quantum tunneling, and the quantum mechanical spin. In this chapter we temporarily leave the arena of many-body physics and second quantization and, at least superficially, return to single-particle quantum mechanics. By establishing the path integral approach for ordinary quantum mechanics, we will set the stage for the introduction of field integral methods for many-body theories explored in the next chapter. We will see that the path integral not only represents a gateway to higher-dimensional functional integral methods but, when viewed from an appropriate perspective, already represents a field theoretical approach in its own right. Exploiting this connection, various concepts of field theory, namely stationary phase analysis, the Euclidean formulation of field theory, instanton techniques, and the role of topology in field theory, are introduced in this chapter. The path integral: general formalism Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to the formulation of quantum mechanics: the “operator approach” based on the canonical quantization of physical observables and the associated operator algebra, and the Feynman path integral.