Feynman Path Integrals and the Schrödinger Equation

Oleg Georgievich Smolyanov, A. G. Tokarev, Aubrey Truman

The main aim of the present paper is using a Chernoff theorem (i.e., the Chernoff formula) to formulate and to prove some rigorous results on representations for solutions of Schrödinger equations by the Hamiltonian Feynman path integrals (=Feynman integrals over trajectories in the phase space). The corresponding theorem is related to the original (Feynman) approach to Feynman path integrals over trajectories in the phase space in much the same way as the famous theorem of Nelson is related to the Feynman approach to the Feynman path integral over trajectories in the configuration space. We also give a representation for solutions of some Schrödinger equations by a series which represents an integral with respect to the complex Poisson measure on trajectories in the phase space.

Walter Greiner

Wataru Ichinose

The definitions of the Feynman path integral for the Pauli equation and more general equations in configuration space and in phase space are proposed, probably for the first time. Then it is proved rigorously that the Feynman path integrals are well-defined and are the solutions to the corresponding equations. These Feynman path integrals are defined by the time-slicing method through broken line paths, which is familiar in physics. Our definitions of these Feynman path integrals and our results give the extension of ones for the Schrödinger equation.

Jean-Louis Basdevant

Donald Gelman, Larry Spruch