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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Segal quantization of dynamical systems

Franco Gallone, Antonio Sparzani

Published Jul 1, 1979• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Segal quantization, usually thought of and used as a tool for quantizing kinematical frameworks, is extended to (finite-dimensional) dynamical systems, i.e., to kinematical frameworks plus dynamical motions applied to them. Such a procedure allows us to classify quantum dynamical systems, and to understand how physical inequivalence appears in spite of von Neumann unitary equivalence, for the former is also grounded on the evolution operators of the systems being different functions of the labeled observables of the systems. Second quantization is also examined and is shown to be just one possible procedure of quantization, which can only be used in a particular class of cases.

DOI
10.1063/1.524244

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Structure results for the Segal quantization of Fermi systems

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In Segal’s approach to linear Fermi quantum systems, a one particle picture with linear symmetries (e.g., with a linear dynamics) can be quantized very straightforwardly when a complexification is given for the (real linear) one particle picture. We examine how the symmetries that are embodied in the one particle picture can determine the structure of the family of the possible complexifications. Among other results, we prove that if the symmetries can be represented in a suitably irreducible way then the complexification is essentially unique. Also, when the one particle space is a generalization of the one defined by the Dirac equation, we prove that there are many complexifications, and inequivalent too, as they generate inequivalent representations of the canonical anticommutation relations; however, we find two criteria that single out the ’’physical’’ complexification. We use the general results we prove to discuss a few familiar models.

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Segal quantization, usually thought of and used as a tool for quantizing kinematical frameworks, is extended to (finite-dimensional) dynamical systems, i.e., to kinematical frameworks plus dynamical motions applied to them. Such a procedure allows us to classify quantum dynamical systems, and to understand how physical inequivalence appears in spite of von Neumann unitary equivalence, for the former is also grounded on the evolution operators of the systems being different functions of the labeled observables of the systems. Second quantization is also examined and is shown to be just one possible procedure of quantization, which can only be used in a particular class of cases.
In Segal’s approach to linear Fermi quantum systems, a one particle picture with linear symmetries (e.g., with a linear dynamics) can be quantized very straightforwardly when a complexification is given for the (real linear) one particle picture. We examine how the symmetries that are embodied in the one particle picture can determine the structure of the family of the possible complexifications. Among other results, we prove that if the symmetries can be represented in a suitably irreducible way then the complexification is essentially unique. Also, when the one particle space is a generalization of the one defined by the Dirac equation, we prove that there are many complexifications, and inequivalent too, as they generate inequivalent representations of the canonical anticommutation relations; however, we find two criteria that single out the ’’physical’’ complexification. We use the general results we prove to discuss a few familiar models.
The kinematical description of a classical system having a linear phase space can be quantised if a complexification is given over the symplectic space that supports the description; indeed, a complexification determines a Segal quantisation. The question of the uniqueness of the Segal quantisation arises since the quantum descriptions constructed through different Segal quantisations need not be equivalent. If the classical description contains also a symmetry group (represented by linear symplectic transformations; this means that one deals with systems having linear dynamics only), the complexification to determine a Segal quantisation that also quantises the symmetry group. The authors show that this requirement determines uniquely the complexification, and therefore the Segal quantisation, provided the symmetry group fulfils a (real) irreducibility condition. They apply this uniqueness criterion to the free neutral scalar field.
This paper is concerned with the relationship between the group G of all symmetries of an unconstrained dynamical system and the space of its quantum states. The chief aim is to establish the validity of the claim that "quantizing a system" means deciding what G is and determining all projective unitary representations of G. The mathematical tool suited to this purpose is the theory of central extensions of an arbitrary group G by the circle group T (and the closely related cohomology group H2 (G, T)). The fundamental structural property is that there is a universal state space [Formula: see text] embedding all states, a unitary representation space of the universal central extension [Formula: see text] of G, on which the Pontryagin dual H2 (G, T)⋆ of H2 (G, T) operates as a group of su-perselection rules, so that the superselection sectors are [Formula: see text] and observables are self-adjoint operators Vh → Vh. This leads to a classification of time-evolution operators respecting the symmetries by H2 (G, T) and a general understanding of "anomalies" as arising from a mismatch of sectors to which symmetry transformations and time-evolution refer. For the special case of a Lie group G of symmetries, [Formula: see text] of G coincides with [Formula: see text] the universal covering group, if G is semisimple. More generally, depending on whether or not G is semisimple and/or simply connected, inequivalent quantizations are of topological, algebraic or "mixed" origin; in the algebraic case, the relationship between anomalous conservation laws and invariant dynamics is explicitly given. Illustrative examples worked out include the Euclidean group E (d) and the (connected) Poincaré group P (d, 1) for arbitrary spatial dimension d and the discrete groups (Z/N)2 and Z2 appropriate for planar square crystals — in particular, the absence of "fractional" angular momentum in the plane is established and the difficulties specific to (2,1)-dimensional quantum field theories precisely formulated. The paper concludes by noting that a number of ambiguities generally supposed to affect traditional procedures of quantization resolve themselves satisfactorily in this approach. Mathematically, the paper is self-contained as far as the concepts and results are concerned; occasionally, proofs of well-known facts are reworked when they serve to illustrate the value of the symmetry point of view. The theory of universal central extensions of groups, including important special cases, is treated in detail in an appendix by M. S. Raghunathan, in view of its significance for quantization and the absence of a similar account in the literature.
The classical system is usually quantized using the canonical formalism, i.e., in the language of coordinates and momenta. In addition to this “purely algebraic” ambiguity, there is also an ambiguity in the choice of realization of the operators p^ and q^: the commutation relations do not determine it uniquely, but up to a unitary equivalence (the well known uniqueness theorem of von Neumann pertains only to the Weyl form of the commutation relations). The realization must be chosen on the basis of additional considerations regarding the nature of the canonical variables p and q. In this book the term “theory” is used in various ways: in a broad sense (quantum field theory, relativistic theory) and in a narrow sense, to refer to a particular system or class of systems with certain dynamics. In quantum theory there are also systems whose operators corresponding to canonical variables satisfy not commutation relations, but anticommutation relations.
One of the traditional ways of introducing bosons and fermions is through creation-annihilation algebras. Historically, these have been associated with emission and absorption processes at the quantum level and are characteristic of the language of second quantization. In this work, we formulate the transition from first to second quantization by taking quotients of the state spaces of distinguishable particles, so that the resulting equivalence classes identify states that contain no information capable of distinguishing between particles, thereby generalising the usual symmetrisation procedure. Assuming that the resulting indistinguishable-particle space (i) admits an ordered basis compatible with how an observer may label the accessible modes, (ii) is invariant under unitary transformations of those modes, and (iii) supports particle counting as a mode-wise local operation, we derive a new class of creation-annihilation algebras. These algebras reproduce the partition functions of transtatistics, the maximal generalisations of bosons and fermions consistent with these operational principles.