It is shown by considering the representation of the Lie group Sp(2N,R)(X)N(N) on the phase space associated with standard ordering that the calculation of the quantum mechanical propagator for a general N-dimensional system with the Hamiltonian quadratic in the position and momentum variables may be reduced to the calculation of the propagator for a 'free particle'.
It is shown by considering the representation of the Lie group Sp(2N,R)(X)N(N) on the phase space associated with standard ordering that the calculation of the quantum mechanical propagator for a general N-dimensional system with the Hamiltonian quadratic in the position and momentum variables may be reduced to the calculation of the propagator for a 'free particle'.
The quantization of physical systems moving on group and symmetric spaces has been an area of active research over the past three decades. This book shows that it is possible to introduce a representation-independent propagator for a real, separable, connected and simply connected Lie group with irreducible, square-integrable representations. For a given set of kinematical variables this propagator is a single generalized function independent of any particular choice of fiducial vector and the irreducible representations of the Lie group generated by these kinematical variables, which nonetheless correctly propagates each element of a continuous representation based on the coherent states associated with these kinematical variables.Furthermore, the book shows that it is possible to construct regularized lattice phase space path integrals for a real, separable, connected and simply connected Lie group with irreducible, square-integrable representations, and although the configuration space is in general a multidimensional curved manifold, it is shown that the resulting lattice phase space path integral has the form of a lattice phase space path integral on a multidimensional flat manifold. Hence, a novel and extremely natural phase space path integral quantization is obtained for general physical systems whose kinematical variables are the generators of a connected and simply connected Lie group. This novel phase space path integral quantization is (a) exact, (b) more general than, and (c) free from the limitations of the previously considered path integral quantizations of free physical systems moving on group manifolds.To illustrate the general theory, a representation-independent propagator is explicitly constructed for SU(2) and the affine group
Chapter 2 constructed a path integral representation of the matrix elements of the statistical operator e-βH. This chapter extends the construction to hamiltonians which are general functions of phase space variables. This results in integrals over trajectories or paths in phase space. When the hamiltonian is quadratic in the momentum variables, the integral over momenta is gaussian and can be performed. In the separable example, the path integral of Chapter 2 is recovered. In the case of the charged particle in a magnetic field a more general form is found, which is somewhat ambiguous, reflecting the problem of order between quantum operators. Hamiltonians which are general quadratic functions of momentum variables provide other important examples, and these are analyzed thoroughly. Such hamiltonians arise in the quantization of the motion on Riemannian manifolds. The analysis is illustrated by the quantization of the free motion on the sphere SN-1.
We show that the group of linear canonical transformations in a 2N-dimensional phase space is the real symplectic group Sp(2N), and discuss its unitary representation in quantum mechanics when the N coordinates are diagonal. We show that this Sp(2N) group is the well-known dynamical group of the N-dimensional harmonic oscillator. Finally, we study the case of n particles in a q-dimensional oscillator potential, for which N = nq, and discuss the chain of groups Sp(2nq)⊃Sp(2n)×O(q). An application to the calculation of matrix elements is given in a following paper.
Abstract In Chapter 2, a path integral representation of the quantum operator e-β H in the case of Hamiltonians H of the separable form p2/2m + V(q) has been constructed. Here, the construction is extended to Hamiltonians that are more general functions of phase space variables. This results in integrals over paths in phase space involving the action expressed in terms of the classical Hamiltonian H(p,q). However, it is shown that, in the general case, the path integral is not completely defined, and this reflects the problem that the classical Hamiltonian does not specify completely the quantum Hamiltonian, due to the problem of ordering quantum operators in products. When the Hamiltonian is a quadratic function of the momentum variables, the integral over momenta is Gaussian and can be performed. In the separable example, the path integral of Chapter 2 is recovered. In the case of the charged particle in a magnetic field a more general form is found, which is ambiguous, since a problem of operator ordering arises, and the ambiguity must be fixed. Hamiltonians that are general quadratic functions provide other important examples, which are analysed thoroughly. Such Hamiltonians appear in the quantization of the motion on Riemannian manifolds. There, the problem of ambiguities is even more severe. The problem is illustrated by the analysis of the quantization of the free motion on the sphere SN−1.
Representations of the proper Poincaré group on spaces of functions of the phase space variables q and p have been studied, by starting with the rotation subgroup SO(3), and carrying out an inducing procedure. A complete decomposition theory, for the physically interesting representations, have been developed. Explicit computations of the forms of the generators and certain systems of imprimitivity have been carried out. The role of the Newton–Wigner position and momentum operators, in the setting of phase space representations, has been discussed. The work is a continuation of an earlier paper on phase space representations, inspired ultimately by the possibility of developing a consistent relativistic quantum mechanics for single particles on phase space.
Optics has served as the expermental basis and model for much of science since Galielo. The minds at work in mechanics were so too in optics, in its early geometric aspects through Snell up to Newton, and its wave aspects since Huygens through Fourier and including Sommerfeld. Hamilton’s original application of generating functions for canonical transformations was in optics; only later were they recognized as a sharp tool for abstract mechanics through the introduction of the concept of a phase space with a symplectic metric [ 1 ]. This concept in embrionary form, served Heisenberg [ 2 ] and Weyl [ 3 ] for the introduction of quantum mechanics, where the Hamiltonian is quadratic in momentum. The history and scope of Sophus Lie’s work is well known to this audience, as is the fact that its manifold applications have been most successful when applied to systems with quadratic Hamiltonians [ 4 ]. Almost invariably, the kinetic energy term is p 2 /2m. This Hamiltonian is indeed also useful in optics, albeit in its Gaussian approximation, i.e., first-order optics which deals with linear transformations of phase space. The associated methods have been under research since the early seventies from the perspective of quantum mechanics [ 5 ] and groups of integral transforms [ 6 , 7 ].