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Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society

The dynamics of a simple system. I. Observables

F. C. Powell

Published Jun 1, 1945• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Any particular form of mechanics (e.g. classical or quantum) makes use of a particular ‘formalism’ or set of rules governing the use of the symbols representing dynamical variables and the symbols (such as +, =) representing relations between dynamical variables. In the present paper an attempt is made to examine the physical content of this formalism, particularly that of quantum mechanics. This is done by building up a formalism as the direct expression of a number of physical postulates having direct operational meaning. It is shown that, in a simple case, with any two observables A and B can be associated a unique sum observable A + B and a unique (real) symmetric product observable A.B (= B.A). It is next shown that, if, like a classical Hamiltonian system, the system has the property that the time rate of change of an observable depends linearly on some observable H when the environment in which the system moves is varied, then a (real) skew product observable A × B (= − B × A) can be defined. Finally, if the equations of motion are ‘of second order', it is possible to express the second rate of change of any observable as an algebraic function of that observable and H. This leads to algebraic identities from which it follows that ‘complex multiplication’, defined by AB = A.B + iA × B, is associative (but not commutative). Observables are thus shown to possess the properties usually ascribed to them in quantum mechanics. These properties make possible a representation by Hermitian matrices.

DOI
10.1017/s0305004100022362

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Any particular form of mechanics (e.g. classical or quantum) makes use of a particular ‘formalism’ or set of rules governing the use of the symbols representing dynamical variables and the symbols (such as +, =) representing relations between dynamical variables. In the present paper an attempt is made to examine the physical content of this formalism, particularly that of quantum mechanics. This is done by building up a formalism as the direct expression of a number of physical postulates having direct operational meaning. It is shown that, in a simple case, with any two observables A and B can be associated a unique sum observable A + B and a unique (real) symmetric product observable A.B (= B.A). It is next shown that, if, like a classical Hamiltonian system, the system has the property that the time rate of change of an observable depends linearly on some observable H when the environment in which the system moves is varied, then a (real) skew product observable A × B (= − B × A) can be defined. Finally, if the equations of motion are ‘of second order', it is possible to express the second rate of change of any observable as an algebraic function of that observable and H. This leads to algebraic identities from which it follows that ‘complex multiplication’, defined by AB = A.B + iA × B, is associative (but not commutative). Observables are thus shown to possess the properties usually ascribed to them in quantum mechanics. These properties make possible a representation by Hermitian matrices.
We present in this paper a set of postulates for a physical system and deduce from these the main general features of the quantum theory of stationary states. Our theory is strictly operational in the sense that only the observables of the physical system are involved in the postulates. The collection of all bounded self-adj oint operators on a Hilbert space, which has previously been used as a mathematical model for the observables in quantum mechanics, satisfy the postulates, as do a variety of considerably more general mathematical structures. We show that for any two observables there exists a pure state of the system (this term being defined essentially as done by von Neumann and Weyl) in which they have different (expectation) values. Each observable has a spectral resolution, and a state of the system induces, in a natural way, a probability distribution on the range of spectral values of each observable. A number of observables are simultaneously observable if and only if they commute (although the product of two observables is not defined in general, a reasonable notion of commutativity can be introduced). Inasmuch as Hilbert space plays no role in our theory, our proofs are necessarily of a different character from the proofs of these results for the case of the system of all bounded selfadjoint operators. Actually, Hilbert space appears to be somewhat inadequate as a state space even for the latter system, in that there exist pure states of the system which cannot be represented in the usual way by rays of the Hilbert space. The postulates are partly algebraic and partly metric. The algebraic postulates require essentially that an observable can be multiplied by real numbers and raised to integral powers, and that any two observables can be added. It is assumed that the usual algebraic laws are satisfied so that (1) the observables can be treated like the elements of a linear space, and (2) the usual rules for dealing with polynomials in one variable with real coefficients remain valid when the variable is replaced by an observable. It is not assumed that two observables have a product. The metric postulates require that for each observable there be defined a kind of maximum numerical value, which plays the part of a norm, and has various properties in accord with its physical significance. While this norm is quite essential to the development of the theory, an interesting consequence of the theory is that the norm can be (uniquely) defined in a purely algebraic fashion. This shows that the objective features of a physical system,-the spectral values and probability distributions of the observables, and the pure states,-are completely determined by the algebra of observables, i.e., by the rules for addition, scalar multiplication, and powers, of observables.
With the postulates already formulated in the language of an abstract inner product spaces, this chapter shows how an observable can be naturally expressed as a linear Hermitian operator acting on the inner product space where the states live. We start by introducing linear operators acting on vector spaces and their representations. Next, we discuss the systems of eigenvalues and eigenvectors associated with such operators. The important case of Hermitian operator and the properties of their eigenvalues and eigenvectors, relevant to quantum mechanics, are introduced. After developing the necessary background in linear algebra, the connection of Hermitian operators with quantum observables is established. We then proceed to explain what this connection actually accomplishes. In particular, we show how it translates the target questions of quantum mechanics into an eigenvalue problem. This makes it evident what the nature of the input to a quantum theory should be. This input enters the formalism through what are known as “quantization rules”. I discuss this in the last section of this chapter. An illustration using a disguised spin-half system winds up the chapter.
In the first part of this series we have shown how the Schrodinger equation for a single particle and the corresponding non relativistic quantum observables can be obtained from a purely classical phonon model through the Newtonian equations of motion. In this work we focus instead on how the classical Hamiltonian formalism applied to the same phonon system allows to recover the feature of relativistic quantum mechanics for a single spinless particle. Using the classical nature of the phonon model, we naturally define continuous Poisson brackets between classical observables, which allows to recover the dynamics of such observables, i.e. the Ehrenfest relations associated to real-valued Klein-Gordon fields. The Poisson brackets also permits to obtain the generic form of constants of motions, thus generalizing the concept of inner products and momentum on Klein-Gordon fields. We then connect the formalism of real-valued classical functionals with that of hermitian operators and complex-valued wave functions. This is done through the introduction of a non-local complex-valued change of variables which allows to rewrite the real-valued Klein-Gordon equation in a form akin to the Schrodinger equation, and the classical observables as quantum expectation values. Then, we show how this change of variables allows to rewrite the classical Poisson brackets as commutators of hermitian operators. This points out the strict equivalence between the Heisenberg formalism and the formalism of classical Poisson bracket. Eventually, we illustrate how the Poisson brackets allows to recover the transformations of Poincare group in 1+1 dimension together with its algebra. The latter makes the link between the Lorentz invariant inner product of Mostafazadeh and the Casimir invariant associated to the mass of particle.
One of us has shown that the statistical properties of the measurements of a quantum mechanical system assume their simplest form when expressed in terms of a certain hypercomplex algebra which is commutative but not associative.1 This algebra differs from the non-commutative but associative matrix algebra usually considered in that one is concerned with the commutative expression ½(A × B + B × A) instead of the associative product A × B of two matrices. It was conjectured that the laws of this commutative algebra would form a suitable starting point for a generalization of the present quantum mechanical theory. The need of such a generalization arises from the (probably) fundamental difficulties resulting when one attempts to apply quantum mechanics to questions in relativistic and nuclear phenomena.
This chapter provides a simple general introduction to some basic mathematics necessary for a subsequent discussion of Lie algebras, operator methods, and their applications to theoretical physics and chemistry. It also provides some useful mathematical tools to derive important theoretical results and expressions in a simple and elegant way. In quantum mechanics the state of a system is represented by an element of a particular vector space, in which one defines an appropriate scalar or inner product, known in mathematics as Hilbert space. Hermitian operators with a complete set of eigenvectors belonging to that state space represent physical observables. Moreover, in certain cases it proves useful to work with vector spaces formed by linear operators. Hermitian operators are particular cases of linear operators and physical observables are particular cases of Hermitian operators. In many physical applications of operator methods one needs to reorder products of exponential operators or to rewrite one such operator as a product of simpler ones.
Abstract The new quantum mechanics, introduced by Heisenberg and since developed from different points of view by various authors, takes its simplest form if one assumes merely that the dynamical variables are numbers of a special type (called q-numbers to distinguish them from ordinary or c-numbers) that obey all the ordinary algebraic laws except the commutative law of multiplication, and satisfy instead of this the relations qrqs – qsqr =0, prps – pspr = 0 } qrqs – psqr = 0 (r ≠ s) or ih(r = s) where the p's and q's are a set of canonical variables and h is a c-number euqal to (2π)-1 times the usual Planck’s constant. Equations (1) may be regarded as replacing the commutative law of the classical theory, as one can, with their help, build up a complete algebraic theory of quantities that are analytic functions of a set of canonical variables. Further, it may easily be seen that the quantity [x, y] defined by xy – yz = ih [x, y] is completely analogous to the Poisson bracket of the classical theory. By means of this analogy the whole of the classical dynamical theory, in so far as it can be expressed in terms of P. B.’s instead of differential coefficients, may be taken over immediately into the quantum theory.