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Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General

The classical limit of quantum mechanics as a Lie algebra contraction

Robert Fawcett, Anthony J. Bracken

Published Jun 21, 1991• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The classical limit of a quantum system with one degree of freedom is examined in terms of the contraction of the underlying non-compact kinematical algebra w 1 (the Weyl-Heisenberg algebra) to the three-dimensional Abelian algebra t 3 . An appropriate definition of the contraction of a Lie algebra and of a sequence of its representations is given. For some quantum systems with simple explicitly integrable dynamics, it is shown how the classical Poisson bracket and classical trajectories are obtained in the limit. Each trajectory is associated with a one-dimensional representation of t 3 within a direct integral of such representations in a Hilbert space. Each of the corresponding generalized one dimensional subspaces is stable under the action of the limiting dynamics, and a superselection rule arises naturally between any two such subspaces.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/24/12/014

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The classical limit of a quantum system with one degree of freedom is examined in terms of the contraction of the underlying non-compact kinematical algebra w 1 (the Weyl-Heisenberg algebra) to the three-dimensional Abelian algebra t 3 . An appropriate definition of the contraction of a Lie algebra and of a sequence of its representations is given. For some quantum systems with simple explicitly integrable dynamics, it is shown how the classical Poisson bracket and classical trajectories are obtained in the limit. Each trajectory is associated with a one-dimensional representation of t 3 within a direct integral of such representations in a Hilbert space. Each of the corresponding generalized one dimensional subspaces is stable under the action of the limiting dynamics, and a superselection rule arises naturally between any two such subspaces.
This thesis is primarily concerned with compact quantum systems, their relationship to non-compact quantum systems and the classical limit of these systems.A compact quantum system is a quantum mechanical system whose underlying kinematical Lie algebra is a compact algebra instead of the usual non-compact Weyl-Heisenberg algebra w n (of the canonical hermitian position and momentum operators) which can be recovered by a contraction of the compact algebra.It is shown that compact quantum systems can be described in terms of the special orthogonal, unitary and compact sympletic algebras and their representations.Boson realisations of the compact Lie algebras ao{n + 2), u(n + 1) and sp(2n + 2) are given, modified slightly from realisations given by Exner, Havlicek and Lassner (Czechoslovak J. Phys.B 26,1213,1976) in terms of canonical coordinate and momentun operators.These boson realisations provide a natural generalisation of the Dyson boson realisation of JO(3).They also have a recurrent structure which in the cases of so(n + 2) and u(n + 1) allows the explicit construction of any desired irreducible representation entirely in terms of bosons.Using these boson realisations, a general formulation for compact quantum systems with n degrees of freedom based on so{n + 2) and u(n + 1) is given in terms of n compact coordinate and momentum operators (2n + 1 degrees of freedom and 2n + 1 coordinate and position operators in the case of sp(2n + 2)).The dynamics of such a system is assumed to be determined in the usual way by a Hamiltonian operator, taken here to be a polynomial in the coordinate and momentum operators.Such compact quantum systems can be contracted to corresponding non-compact quantum systems by means of a contraction of the underlying compact kinematical Lie algebra.A new definition of the contraction of a Lie algebra and its representations by the method of sequences of representations is given, suitable to the purposes of this application.The consequences of the definition are explored at length, in particular, with regard to the reducibility and decomposability of the resultant representations of the contracted
By making use of the Weyl-Wigner-Groenewold-Moyal association rules, a commutative product and a new quantum bracket are constructed in the ring of operators \cal{F}(H). In this way, an isomorphism between Lie algebra of classical observables (with Poisson bracket) and the Lie algebra of quantum observables with this new bracket is established. By these observations, a formulation of the classical mechanics in \cal{F}(H} is obtained and is shown to be \hbar\to 0 limit of the Heisenberg picture formulation of the quantum mechanics.
We discuss a phase space representation of quantum dynamics of systems with many degrees of freedom. This representation is based on a perturbative expansion in quantum fluctuations around one of the classical limits. We explicitly analyze expansions around three such limits: (i) corpuscular or Newtonian limit in the coordinate-momentum representation, (ii) wave or Gross-Pitaevskii limit for interacting bosons in the coherent state representation, and (iii) Bloch limit for the spin systems. We discuss both the semiclassical (truncated Wigner) approximation and further quantum corrections appearing in the form of either stochastic quantum jumps along the classical trajectories or the nonlinear response to such jumps. We also discuss how quantum jumps naturally emerge in the analysis of non-equal time correlation functions. This representation of quantum dynamics is closely related to the phase space methods based on the Wigner-Weyl quantization and to the Keldysh technique. We show how such concepts as the Wigner function, Weyl symbol, Moyal product, Bopp operators, and others automatically emerge from the Feynmann's path integral representation of the evolution in the Heisenberg representation. We illustrate the applicability of this expansion with various examples mostly in the context of cold atom systems including sine-Gordon model, one- and two-dimensional Bose Hubbard model, Dicke model and others.
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.
This article presents a mathematical framework for group-theoretical formalism of quantum mechanics and discusses the geometric quantization of the classical systems associated with a Lie group. The classical-quantum correspondence is realized by identifying quantum observable algebra and its classical analogue with the set of distributions with compact supports on a Lie group and on the associated Lie algebra respectively, both having a convolution-type associative algebraic structure. The general mathematical constructs are illustrated by studying systems associated with the Heisenberg-Weyl group. It is shown that the exponential mapping from Heisenberg-Weyl algebra to the corresponding Lie group gives Weyl quantization.
A formalism of quantum kinematics which rests on the regular representation of a Lie group is proposed. This representation leads to explicit canonical commutation relations for non-Abelian dynamical variables which, together with the Lie algebra, define the kinematic algebra. Generalised equations of motion for the group-parameter-dependent operators, as well as generalised wave equations, are introduced over the group manifold considered as a background arena. The formalism proposed affords a method of geometric quantisation stemming directly from the observed symmetries of a system.