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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Stochastic mechanics of relativistic fields

EDWARD B. NELSON

Published Apr 14, 2014• 21 citations
Publisher

Abstract

After a brief review of stochastic mechanics of nonrelativistic particle systems, the paper discusses in a qualitative way issues concerning the application of stochastic mechanics to relativistic fields and their relation to quantum field theory. It is suggested that gauge theories will be essential to this program.
DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/504/1/012013

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Given the classical dynamics of a non-relativistic particle in terms of a Hamiltonian or an action, it is relatively straightforward to obtain the non-relativistic quantum mechanics (NRQM) of the system. These standard procedures, based on either the Hamiltonian or the path integral, however, do not work in the case of a relativistic particle. As a result we do not have a single-particle description of relativistic quantum mechanics (RQM). Instead, the correct approach requires a transmutation of dynamical variables from the position and momentum of a single particle to a field and its canonical momentum. Particles, along with antiparticles , reappear in a very nontrivial manner as the excitations of the field. The fact that one needs to adopt completely different languages to describe a relativistic and non-relativistic free particle implies that obtaining the NRQM limit of QFT is conceptually nontrivial. I examine this limit in several approaches (like, for e.g., Hamiltonian dynamics, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian path integrals, field theoretic description etc.) and identify the precise issues which arise when one attempts to obtain the NRQM from QFT in each of these approaches. The dichotomy of NRQM and QFT does not originate just from the square root in the Hamiltonian or from the demand of Lorentz invariance, as is sometimes claimed. The real difficulty has its origin in the necessary existence of antiparticles to ensure a particular notion of relativistic causality. Because of these conceptual issues, it turns out that one cannot , in fact, obtain some of the popular descriptions of NRQM by any sensible limiting procedure applied to QFT. To obtain NRQM from QFT in a seamless manner, it is necessary to work with NRQM expressed in a language closer to that of QFT. This fact has several implications, especially for the operational notion of space coordinates in quantum theory. A close examination of these issues, which arise when quantum theory is combined with special relativity, could offer insights in the context of attempts to combine quantum theory with general relativity.
We show that non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics can be faithfully represented in terms of a classical diffusion process endowed with a gauge symmetry of group Z_4. The representation is based on a quantization condition for the realized action along paths. A lattice regularization is introduced to make rigorous sense of the construction and then removed. Quantum mechanics is recovered in the continuum limit and the full U(1) gauge group symmetry of electro-magnetism appears. Anti-particle representations emerge naturally, albeit the context is non-relativistic. Quantum density matrices are obtained by averaging classical probability distributions over phase-action variables. We find that quantum conditioning can be described in classical terms but not through the standard notion of sub sigma-algebras. Delicate restrictions arise by the constraint that we are only interested in the algebra of gauge invariant random variables. We conclude that Quantum Mechanics is equivalent to a theory of gauge invariant classical stochastic processes we call Stochastic Mechanics.
This book is an attempt to build a consistent relativistic quantum theory of interacting particles. In the first part of the book "Quantum electrodynamics" we follow rather traditional approach to particle physics. Our discussion proceeds systematically from the principle of relativity and postulates of quantum measurements to the renormalization in quantum electrodynamics. In the second part of the book "Quantum theory of particles" this traditional approach is reexamined. We find that formulas of special relativity should be modified to take into account particle interactions. We also suggest reinterpreting quantum field theory in the language of physical "dressed" particles. This formulation eliminates the need for renormalization and opens up a new way for studying dynamical and bound state properties of quantum interacting systems. The developed theory is applied to realistic physical objects and processes including the energy spectrum of the hydrogen atom, the decay law of moving unstable particles, and the electric field of relativistic electron beams. These results force us to take a fresh look at some core issues of modern particle theories, in particular, the Minkowski space-time unification, the role of quantum fields and renormalization as well as the alleged impossibility of action-at-a-distance. A new perspective on these issues is suggested. It can help to solve the old problem of theoretical physics -- a consistent unification of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Tracking a real trajectory of a quantum particle still has been treated as the interpretation problem. It shall be expressed by a Brownian (stochastic) motion suggested by E. Nelson, however, the well-defined mechanism of field generation from a stochastic particle hasn't been proposed yet. For the improvement of this, I propose the extension of Nelson's quantum dynamics, for describing a relativistic scalar electron with its radiation equivalent to the Klein-Gordon particle and field system.