This dissertation addresses the problem of constructing true degrees of freedom in quantum mechanical systems with constraints. The method developed relies on assuming the behavior of the system of interest is ``nearly classical', or semiclassical, in a precise quantitative sense. The approximation is formulated as a perturbative hierarchy of the expectation values of quantum observables and their non-linear combinations, such as spreads and correlations. We formulate the constraint conditions and additional quantum gauge transformations that arise directly on the aforementioned quantities. We specialize this framework to several situations of particular interest. The first situation considered is the case of a constraint that commutes with all quantum observables, which is appropriate for quantization of a Lie algebra with a single Casimir polynomial. Through explicit order-by order counting argue that the true degrees of freedom are captured correctly at each order of the approximation. The rest of the models considered are motivated by the canonical approach to quantizing general relativity. The homogeneous sector of general relativity splits into classes of models, according to topology, which are described by a finite number of degrees of freedom and can therefore be quantized as quantum mechanical systems, making our construction directly applicable. In the Hamiltonian formulation the dynamics of these systems is governed by the Hamiltonian constraint, which, in the quantum theory, gives rise to several conceptual and technical issues collectively known as the Problem of Time. One of the aspects of this problem that does not possess a general solution is the dynamical interpretation of the theory. We use our construction, truncated at the leading order in quantum corrections, together with the intuition gained from dealing with constrained systems in classical mechanics, to define local notion of dynamics relative to a chosen configuration clock variable. We consider a class of models, where the chosen clock in not globally valid, eventually leading to singular dynamics. Within these models we construct an explicit transformation between dynamical evolution relative to two distinct clocks, thus providing a consistent local dynamical interpretation of the true degrees of freedom of the quantum theory.
This dissertation addresses the problem of constructing true degrees of freedom in quantum mechanical systems with constraints. The method developed relies on assuming the behavior of the system of interest is ``nearly classical', or semiclassical, in a precise quantitative sense. The approximation is formulated as a perturbative hierarchy of the expectation values of quantum observables and their non-linear combinations, such as spreads and correlations. We formulate the constraint conditions and additional quantum gauge transformations that arise directly on the aforementioned quantities. We specialize this framework to several situations of particular interest. The first situation considered is the case of a constraint that commutes with all quantum observables, which is appropriate for quantization of a Lie algebra with a single Casimir polynomial. Through explicit order-by order counting argue that the true degrees of freedom are captured correctly at each order of the approximation. The rest of the models considered are motivated by the canonical approach to quantizing general relativity. The homogeneous sector of general relativity splits into classes of models, according to topology, which are described by a finite number of degrees of freedom and can therefore be quantized as quantum mechanical systems, making our construction directly applicable. In the Hamiltonian formulation the dynamics of these systems is governed by the Hamiltonian constraint, which, in the quantum theory, gives rise to several conceptual and technical issues collectively known as the Problem of Time. One of the aspects of this problem that does not possess a general solution is the dynamical interpretation of the theory. We use our construction, truncated at the leading order in quantum corrections, together with the intuition gained from dealing with constrained systems in classical mechanics, to define local notion of dynamics relative to a chosen configuration clock variable. We consider a class of models, where the chosen clock in not globally valid, eventually leading to singular dynamics. Within these models we construct an explicit transformation between dynamical evolution relative to two distinct clocks, thus providing a consistent local dynamical interpretation of the true degrees of freedom of the quantum theory.
The thesis addresses the fundamental interplay between indistinguishability and interactions in few- and many-body quantum systems, treated in two separate approaches, both analytic in nature, using semiclassical methods. The few-body sector, considering a strictly fixed number of particles, is addressed within the framework of first quantization. By sticking to descriptions as (micro-)canonical ensembles the approach overcomes the inappropriate use of virial expansions. It is based on cluster expansions where quantum statistics are treated exactly and interparticle forces are described non-perturbatively. After a full formal development the cluster expansions are supplemented with short-time dynamical information that is equated with the description of smooth spectral properties or equivalently temperatures above strong quantum degeneracy, which, in the single-particle context, is the essential ingredient to what is known as semiclassical Weyl expansions. This reduction allows for the fully analytical description of universal features of large classes of systems by either truncating to a specific class of allowed collision processes, i.e., two-body collisions, or by extracting higher-order interaction kernels from related integrable models. The consistent combination with scaling considerations, minimal ground-state information and strong-coupling expansions leads to a toolbox providing most of the thermodynamic and spectral properties of one-dimensional systems with short-range interactions, all in terms of the lowest-order interaction kernels. The analytical results are in excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement with extensive numerical simulations for both integrable and non-integrable models of experimental relevance in cold atom physics. The many-body sector is in contrast treated in the second quantized formulation of quantum mechanics making use of the well-known collection of semiclassical methods that are subsumed under the name periodic orbit theory. As these methods apply in a highly system specific manner, the attractive Bose gas on a ring is chosen as exemplary model to show a case where the semiclassical quantization of mean-field dynamics, here considered as the classical analogue, can be used to obtain analytical non-trivial information on correlation-related many-body effects, especially related to quantum critical behavior in this model. After a simplification by truncating to the lowest single-particle momentum modes the consistent application of Einstein-Brillouin-Keller quantization yields a description valid for large numbers of bosons. Besides analytically reproducing numerical spectra to high accuracy, the approach enables one to extract asymptotic scaling laws for level spacings around quantum criticality, representing properties. These (finite) energy differences are intrinsically tied to inter-particle correlations and therefore elude a more conventional description by means of a mean-field theory extended with Bogoliubov quasi particles. An application to the scrambling time of the system, related to a pseudo quantum butterfly effect that stems from a local instability, underlines the importance of the method in the otherwise inaccessible regime of extreme particle numbers.
It is shown that application of the time-dependent variational principle to trial wave functions of a particular form results in a description of the quantum system as a classical system consisting of two mutually interacting parts: the ordinary classical analog of the quantum system and a (generally finite) number of additional degrees of freedom. This holds out the prospect of simulating quantum dynamics by coupling the corresponding classical system to additional degrees of freedom, and it is pointed out that such calculations have, in effect, already been performed. Since the trial wave functions that qualify for this treatment may be arbitrarily accurate, there is no limitation to the accuracy of the resulting classical description. In a particular case, the canonical coordinates and momenta for all degrees of freedom of the overall classical system are identified and investigated. In general, certain parameters appearing in the trial wave functions treated in this work may become redundant at certain times, leading to singularities in the Hamiltonian equations of motion. It is shown, however, that in certain such cases, a classical formalism for the quantum dynamics remains valid if the Hamiltonian function is suitably modified. Calculations applying the present Hamiltonian formalism are carried out that demonstrate that it has better convergence properties than an alternative, nonvariational, Hamiltonian technique suggested by previous work. These numerical studies also suggest that the observed spreading of wave packets and development of complicated structure in wave functions may be interpreted classically in terms of energy transfer among the various degrees of freedom in the overall classical system.
In this thesis, we lay out the goal, and a broad outline, for a program that takes quantum mechanics in its minimal form to be the fundamental ontology of the universe. Everything else, including features like space-time, matter and gravity associated with classical reality, are emergent from these minimal quantum elements. We argue that the Hilbert space of quantum gravity is locally finite-dimensional, in sharp contrast to that of conventional field theory, which could have observable consequences for gravity. We also treat time and space on an equal footing in Hilbert space in a reparametrization invariant setting and show how symmetry transformations, both global and local, can be treated as unitary basis changes. Motivated by the finite-dimensional context, we use Generalized Pauli Operators as finite-dimensional conjugate variables and define a purely Hilbert space notion of locality based on the spread induced by conjugate operators which we call "Operator Collimation." We study deviations in the spectrum of physical theories, particularly the quantum harmonic oscillator, induced by finite-dimensional effects, and show that by including a black hole-based bound in a lattice field theory, the quantum contribution to the vacuum energy can be suppressed by multiple orders of magnitude. We then show how one can recover subsystem structure in Hilbert space which exhibits emergent quasi-classical dynamics. We explicitly connect classical features (such as pointer states of the system being relatively robust to entanglement production under environmental monitoring and the existence of approximately classical trajectories) with features of the Hamiltonian. We develop an in-principle algorithm based on extremization of an entropic quantity that can sift through different factorizations of Hilbert space to pick out the one with manifest classical dynamics. This discussion is then extended to include direct sum decompositions and their compatibility with Hamiltonian evolution. Following this, we study quantum coarse-graining and state-reduction maps in a broad context. In addition to developing a first-principle quantum coarse-graining algorithm based on principle component analysis, we construct more general state-reduction maps specified by a restricted set of observables which do not span the full algebra (as could be the case of limited access in a laboratory or in various situations in quantum gravity). We also present a general, not inherently numeric, algorithm for finding irreducible representations of matrix algebras. Throughout the thesis, we discuss implications of our work in the broader goal of understanding quantum gravity from minimal elements in quantum mechanics.
We study continuous variable systems, in which quantum and classical degrees of freedom are combined and treated on the same footing. Thus all systems, including the inputs or outputs to a channel, may be quantum-classical hybrids. This allows a unified treatment of a large variety of quantum operations involving measurements or dependence on classical parameters. The basic variables are given by canonical operators with scalar commutators. Some variables may commute with all others and hence generate a classical subsystem. We systematically study the class of "quasifree" operations, which are characterized equivalently either by an intertwining condition for phase-space translations or by the requirement that, in the Heisenberg picture, Weyl operators are mapped to multiples of Weyl operators. This includes the well-known Gaussian operations, evolutions with quadratic Hamiltonians, and "linear Bosonic channels", but allows for much more general kinds of noise. For example, all states are quasifree. We sketch the analysis of quasifree preparation, measurement, repeated observation, cloning, teleportation, dense coding, the setup for the classical limit, and some aspects of irreversible dynamics, together with the precise salient tradeoffs of uncertainty, error, and disturbance. Although the spaces of observables and states are infinite dimensional for every non-trivial system that we consider, we treat the technicalities related to this in a uniform and conclusive way, providing a calculus that is both easy to use and fully rigorous.
The study of electrical currents in a regime where a description as a continuous flow fails and the particle nature becomes important, but where notions such as particle density or currents continue to be meaningful, will be at the heart of the present dissertation. Given such a mesoscopic system through which electrons flow, either actively through quantum pumping or passively due to a potential difference, we investigate quantities such as transferred charge, noise, current fluctuations, and relations between them. More generally we shall examine the statistics of particle transport. All discussions will concentrate on compact devices transferring charge between two one-dimensional reservoirs (the leads) of independent electrons. Firstly, we consider the generating function of the moments of transferred charge and we prove that it is given by the determinant of a single-particle operator. It is formally equivalent to a formula of Lesovik and Levitov, but is shown to be well-defined in the situations under consideration, whereas the former is not, in general. The mechanism leading to regularization is typical for mesoscopic systems: we consider a limiting case that reveals the fundamental structure of the problem. In fact, as suited for an open system, the leads contain an infinite number of charges. It follows mathematically that the second quantization ought to be carried out upon the Fermi sea and not upon the vacuum, a procedure known as the GNS construction. We shall rely heavily on operator algebraic techniques. The set of observables, the C*-algebra of canonical anticommutation relations, admits different representations for systems in the thermodynamic limit, which are described by their reduced one-particle density matrix. An important question will be the existence of operators such as the charge or the time evolution in a given representation, which induce so-called Bogoliubov transformations. These prerequisites at hand, we shall pose the problem of counting statistics clearly, prove that the regularized determinant emerges naturally, and show that it describes the transport of integer charges with non-negative probabilities. Secondly, we introduce a model of instantaneous scattering in which various examples can be computed explicitely. In particular, we show that the above theorem applies for scattering through a smoothly operating pump over a finite time interval. We also exhibit situations where the propagator does exist but the generating function is ambiguous. In a more computational approach, we then turn to the relation of individual moments of transferred charge to current correlators. It turns out that the former can indeed be expressed as integrals of the latter over time, provided the current operators are ordered according to Matthews’ T∗ ordering. It is given by first arranging the charge operators according to their time indices, and only then taking the time derivatives, which induce contact terms whose singular support lies along time coincidences. We shall give two derivations of this result, because the first one is transparent, and the second one is related to contradictory computations in the literature where the system is considered to be measured by an external spin. In the model of constant instantaneous scattering, we then argue from the Lesovik-Levitov determinant that the transport can be interpreted in terms of a binomial process in the long time limit. In a parallel computation, we concentrate on the third cumulant as defined by integration of current correlators and show how the contact terms of the T∗ ordering play an essential role in providing the expected binomial result, too. To close this thesis, we suggest an algebraic framework that lays the foundations for a rigorous discussion of the Casimir effect. The problem of infinites arising in the comparison of two physical situations for a bosonic field is interpreted as the non-equivalence of states on the algebra of canonical commutation relations. We exhibit sufficient conditions on the one-particle Hamiltonians which ensure that the Casimir energy is finite and give an expression for it. We discuss its formal equivalence with the result obtained from the standard mode summing method.
The Dirac-Bergmann algorithm for the Hamiltonian analysis of constrained systems is a nice and powerful tool, widely used for quantization and non-perturbative counting of degrees of freedom. However, certain aspects of its application to systems with first-class constraints are often overlooked in the literature, which is unfortunate, as a naive treatment leads to incorrect results. In particular, when transitioning from the total to the extended Hamiltonian, the physical information encoded in the constrained modes is lost unless a suitable redefinition of gauge invariant quantities is made. An example of this is electrodynamics, in which the electric field gets an additional contribution to its longitudinal component in the form of the gradient of an arbitrary Lagrange multiplier. Moreover, Dirac's conjecture, the common claim that all first-class constraints are independent generators of gauge transformations, is somewhat misleading in the standard notion of gauge symmetry used in field theories. At the level of the total Hamiltonian, the true gauge generator is a specific combination of primary and secondary first-class constraints; in general, Dirac's conjecture holds only in the case of the extended Hamiltonian.
The aim of the paper is primarily pedagogical. We review these issues, providing examples and general arguments. Also, we show that the aforementioned redefinition of gauge invariants within the extended Hamiltonian approach is equivalent to a form of the Stueckelberg trick applied to variables that are second-class with respect to the primary constraints.