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Surprises in Noncommutative Dynamics

Ciprian Sorin Acatrinei

Published Jan 1, 2011• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We present several unexpected consequences of the noncommutativity of coordinates in classical and quantum mechanics. Classically, a standard Lagrangian variational approach cannot be formulated, dynamics is quite strange, and gauge invariance is broken for a particle minimally coupled

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Extension of Feynman's path integral to quantum mechanics of noncommuting spatial coordinates is considered. The corresponding formalism for noncommutative classical dynamics related to quadratic Lagrangians (Hamiltonians) is formulated. Our approach is based on the fact that a quantum-mechanical system with a noncommutative configuration space may be regarded as another effective system with commuting spatial coordinates. Since path integral for quadratic Lagrangians is exactly solvable and a general formula for probability amplitude exists, we restricted our research to this class of Lagrangians. We found general relation between quadratic Lagrangians in their commutative and noncommutative regimes. The corresponding noncommutative path integral is presented. This method is illustrated by two quantum-mechanical systems in the noncommutative plane: a particle in a constant field and a harmonic oscillator.
We begin with a presentation of the Schwinger variational principle in quantum mechanics. In the second part, after a re-assessment of the problem of motion in quantum mechanics, it is shown that the Green kernel, which represents the probability amplitude of finding a particle in space at a given time, once its location at another time is known, can be represented by a sum over ‘space–time paths’. According to this interpretation, one integrates the exponential of i times the classical action divided by ħ, with a (formal) measure over all space–time paths matching the initial location x i at time t i and the final location x f at time t f . Such a way of evaluating the Green kernel is applied to any quadratic Lagrangian for a generic quantum system including, in particular, the harmonic oscillator and the free particle. Lastly, we outline a formalism which involves ordinary functions of commuting variables, and exactly reproduces ordinary quantum mechanics. It works with a phase space endowed with commuting coordinates, so that one is dealing with quantum mechanics in phase space. The Schwinger formulation of quantum dynamics In both the Schrödinger formulation in terms of wave functions (with associated state vectors) and the Heisenberg formulation in terms of noncommuting matrices (with corresponding linear operators) the dynamical evolution is specified in terms of the Hamiltonian. This has motivated our presentation of classical dynamics, but is in marked contrast with the view according to which the Lagrangian and the action specify the dynamics. Hamilton's principle is formulated in terms of the action, the time integral of the Lagrangian.
The distinction between gauge independence and gauge covariance in electrodynamics is considered for quantities of physical interest. The gauge independence of directly observable quantities, such as the spectra of operators and energy conserving transition rates, is discussed and contrasted with the gauge covariance of other quantities such as scalar products. The quasigauge-invariance of the classical Lagrangian and the invariance of the Euler-Lagrange equations under the addition of a total time derivative to the Lagrangian are discussed. The consequent inherent nonuniqueness of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of classical mechanics is pointed out. A physical interpretation of the explicit gauge dependence of classical canonical momenta and of the expectation values of the corresponding quantum mechanical operators is presented. The gauge independence of energy conserving transition rates calculated in the conventional finite-order time dependent perturbation theory is discussed and illustrated. The gauge dependence of the conventional time dependent transition amplitudes in the presence of electromagnetic fields is then discussed, and gauge independent transition amplitudes are constructed. An alternative formulation of the quantum mechanics of charged particles is obtained in terms of a new gauge independent Hamiltonian, which is, as might be expected, unique only within an arbitrary canonical transformation.