Functional Integration and Quantum Physics

Barry Simon A

Дмитрий Петрович Санкович

The first steps in the application of methods for integrating functions defined on abstract sets were taken by Wiener. Most widely, the ideas of functional integration were developed in Feynman's works. The Feynman continual integral is well known to a wide community of physicists. Along with this, there is another approach to the construction of a functional integral in quantum physics. This approach was proposed by Bogolyubov. Bogolyubov's methods are relevant in quantum statistical physics, and have natural ties with probability theory. We review some mathematical results of integration with respect to a special Gaussian measure that arises in the statistical theory for quantum systems. It is shown that the Gibbs equilibrium averages of the chronological products of Bose operators can be represented as functional integrals with respect to this measure (the Bogolyubov measure). Some properties of this measure are studied. We rewrite partition function of many particle Bose systems in terms of Bogolyubov functional integral.

Izuru Fujiwara

Victor Nikolaevich Popov

Functional integration is one of the most powerful methods of modern theoretical physics. The functional integration approach to systems with an infinite number of degrees of freedom turns out to be very suitable for the introduction and formulation of the diagram perturbation theory in quantum field theory and statistical physics. This approach is simpler than that using an operator method. The application of functional integrals in statistical physics allows one to derive numerous interesting results more quickly than when using other methods. The theories of phase transitions of the second kind, superfluidity, superconductivity, lasers, plasma, the Kondo effect, the Ising model – a list of problems which is far from complete, for which the application of the functional integration method appears to be very fruitful. In some of the problems, it allows us to give a rigorous proof of results obtained by other methods. If there is a possibility of an exact solution, the functional integration method gives a simple way to obtain it. In problems far from being exactly solvable (for example, the general theory of phase transitions), the application of functional integrals helps to build up a qualitative picture of the phenomenon and to develop the approximative methods of calculations. Functional integrals are especially useful for the description of collective excitations, such as plasma oscillations in the system of particles with Coulomb interaction, quantum vortices and long-wave phonons in superfluidity and superconductivity, collective modes in 3 He-type systems and in 3 He− 4 He mixtures.

Izrail Moiseevich Gelfand, Akiva M. Yaglom

This translation of the survey article by I. M. Gel'fand and A. M. Yaglom on the theory and applications of integration in functional spaces in problems of quantum physics was prepared because it was felt that such a review would be of interest and of use to mathematical physicists working in several different fields. The article begins with a discussion of Wiener measure, after which the extension is made to the complex measure introduced by Feynman in his formulation of quantum mechanics, and examples are given of the use of these methods in quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and quantum statistical physics. A comprehensive bibliography of works devoted to the theory and applications of functional integration methods is included.

Viktor Nikolayevich Popov