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Physical Review A

Semiclassical integrable matrix elements

James J. Morehead

Published Mar 1, 1996• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A semiclassical expression for matrix elements of an arbitrary operator with respect to the eigenstates of an integrable Hamiltonian is derived. This is essentially the Heisenberg correspondence principle, and it is shown via the Weyl correspondence that the approximation is valid through the lowest two orders in \ensuremath{\Elzxh}. The result is used to prove that an asymptotic form of the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients for two large and one small angular momenta is valid through two orders. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.53.1285

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A semiclassical expression for matrix elements of an arbitrary operator with respect to the eigenstates of an integrable Hamiltonian is derived. This is essentially the Heisenberg correspondence principle, and it is shown via the Weyl correspondence that the approximation is valid through the lowest two orders in \ensuremath{\Elzxh}. The result is used to prove that an asymptotic form of the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients for two large and one small angular momenta is valid through two orders. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The semiclassical formula for matrix elements, sometimes called the Heisenberg correspondence principle, relates matrix elements (operators in energy representation) to phase space functions (Weyl representatives). The formula does not make sense for arbitrary operators; when it is valid it implicitly fixes the relative phases of the eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian. The conventions, which have to be used for the wavefunctions in position or momentum representation, are given here in explicit form, and we present a class of operators related to coherent states of high energy for which the Heisenberg correspondence principle holds.
Heisenberg's form of the correspondence principle is applied to the matrix elements of tensor operators. A correspondence limit of the Wigner-Eckart theorem is obtained. It is shown that the Clebsch-Gordan coefficient tends in this limit to the product of a reduced rotation matrix element with a simple multiplicative factor. A similar, but not identical, expression has long been known as a formal limit obtaining when two of the three angular momenta involved become large. It is characteristic of correspondence principle expressions that the initial and final quantal states must be represented by some 'mean' classical orbit, the choice of which remains ambiguous. Here recursion relations are used to arrive at the optimal choice. In this way, a correspondence principle approximation to the Clebsch-Gordan coefficient is obtained which may be used with success far from the limit to which it nominally refers. This approximation is tested numerically against both exact and semiclassical computations.
The coupling of angular momenta is studied using quantum mechanics in the limit of large quantum numbers (semiclassical limit). Uniformly valid semiclassical expressions are derived for the 3j (Wigner) coefficients coupling two angular momenta, and for the 6j (Racah) coefficients coupling three angular momenta. In three limiting cases our new expressions reduce to those conjectured by Ponzano and Regge. The derivation involves solving the recursion relations satisfied by these coefficients, by a discrete analog of the WKB method. Terms of the order of the inverse square of the quantum numbers are neglected in the derivation, so that the results should be increasingly accurate for larger angular momenta. Numerical results confirm this asymptotic convergence. Moreover, the results are of a useful accuracy even at small quantum numbers.
Heisenberg's form of the correspondence principle for non-relativistic matrix elements has been used to evaluate matrix elements for various potentials. These are compared with available quantum mechanical results to check the general validity of the use of classical mechanics and correspondence principles in the derivation of quantum mechanical expressions. Using a one dimensional harmonic oscillator potential matrix elements of the form (n mod qm mod n+s) and (n mod pm mod n+s) are worked out. A Morse potential is then considered and the matrix elements for position, momentum, and kinetic energy are evaluated. Using a Coulomb potential a similar procedure is used for functions of various position coordinates, from which dipole and quadrupole moments from transitions between n, l states are calculated. The agreement with quantum mechanics is found to be generally good, and in some cases identical results are obtained.
Heisenberg's correspondence principle for non-relativistic matrix elements has been generalized: quantal transition amplitudes between strongly coupled states are expressed as Fourier components of integrals over classical trajectories. The new theory reduces to Heisenberg's correspondence principle in particular cases. The theory is applicable whenever the change in quantum number is small compared with the initial quantum number. In these situations it is more comprehensive than both quantal first order perturbation theory and the sudden approximation. Furthermore, compared with standard quantal methods, the evaluation of amplitudes is particularly simple. The theory is worked out for one- and three-dimensional separable systems and the generalization to a system of arbitrary dimension is indicated.