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International Journal of Quantum Chemistry

Self‐dual phase‐space representation of quantum mechanics and the variational principle

Joachim J. Włodarz

Published Jul 15, 1994• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The important duality problem of phase‐space representations of quantum mechanics is discussed and the class of self‐dual representations is established. It is shown that self‐dual phase‐space representations may be endowed with a Hilbert space structure resembling the standard picture of quantum mechanics. A stationary variational principle is then formulated, enabling one to solve eigenproblems of observables directly in phase space. A modified, more usable form of this variational principle is also given together with an example of practical application to the 1D Coulomb system. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

DOI
10.1002/qua.560510303

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I propose a new and direct connection between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics where I derive the quantum mechanical propagator from a variational principle. This variational principle is Hamilton's modified principle generalized to allow many paths due to the non-local existence of particles in phase space. This principle allows a physical system to evolve non-locally in phase space while still allowing a representation that uses many classical paths. Whereas a point in phase space represents a classical system's state, I represent the state of a non-local system by a mixed trajectory. This formulation naturally leads to the transactional interpretation for resolving the paradoxes of the measurement problem. This principle also suggests a more flexible framework for formulating theories based on invariant actions and provides a single conceptual framework for discussing many areas of science.
Abstract In this chapter we present the mathematical framework of describing wave functions as vectors in a Hilbert space and observables as Hermitian operators on such a vector space. We describe the mathematical formulation of these ideas for finite and infinite-dimensional cases via the Dirac notation, and discuss the example of the Hilbert space of photon polarization. Important classes of linear operators on Hilbert spaces are discussed, including projectors, Hermitian and self-adjoint operators, as well as unitary operators. As an important centre piece for the mathematical language of quantum mechanics we present the spectral theorem. We discuss the subtleties of this framework in infinite dimensions, giving a brief overview of the distributional aspects of quantum mechanics and the conceptually important problem of finding self-adjoint extensions via the Weyl-von Neumann theorem
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