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Journal of Modern Physics

Conservation of Energy in Classical Mechanics and Its Lack from the Point of View of Quantum Theory

Stanisław Olszewski

Published Jan 1, 2016• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is pointed out that the property of a constant energy characteristic for the circular motions of macroscopic bodies in classical mechanics does not hold when the quantum conditions for the motion are applied. This is so because any macroscopic body—lo-cated in a high-energy quantum state—is in practice forced to change this state to a state having a lower energy. The rate of the energy decrease is usually extremely small which makes its effect uneasy to detect in course of the observations, or experiments. The energy of the harmonic oscillator is thoroughly examined as an example. Here our point is that not only the energy, but also the oscillator amplitude which depends on energy, are changing with time. In result, no constant positions of the turning points of the oscillator can be specified; consequently the well-known variational procedure concerning the calculation of the action function and its properties cannot be applied.

DOI
10.4236/jmp.2016.716200

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It is pointed out that the property of a constant energy characteristic for the circular motions of macroscopic bodies in classical mechanics does not hold when the quantum conditions for the motion are applied. This is so because any macroscopic body—lo-cated in a high-energy quantum state—is in practice forced to change this state to a state having a lower energy. The rate of the energy decrease is usually extremely small which makes its effect uneasy to detect in course of the observations, or experiments. The energy of the harmonic oscillator is thoroughly examined as an example. Here our point is that not only the energy, but also the oscillator amplitude which depends on energy, are changing with time. In result, no constant positions of the turning points of the oscillator can be specified; consequently the well-known variational procedure concerning the calculation of the action function and its properties cannot be applied.
An analysis of the change in the concept of a particle required by the passage from classical to quantum theory suggests a ’’classical particle representation’’ for the latter which should allow purely quantum-mechanical results to be cast into a form suited to interpretation in semiclassical terms. Application of this representation to the examples of the free particle and the particle in a constant force field essentially reproduces the usual arguments as to how classical trajectories can be generated in the quantum theory, although from a somewhat different point of view than that usually presented. Applying the representation to the energy eigenfunctions of the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator provides an interesting semiclassical interpretation of these functions and their relationship to the quantization rules of the old quantum theory. Some speculations regarding other possible applications of this approach are also presented.
# Least Action in Classical Mechanics: # The Concept of Functional # The Principle of Least Action # Conservation of Energy. Constants of the Motion # Particles Interacting Through an Intermediate Oscillator # Least Action in Quantum Mechanics: # The Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics # The Calculation of Matrix Elements in the Language of a Lagrangian # The Equations of Motion in Lagrangian Form # Translation to the Ordinary Notation of Quantum Mechanics # The Generalization to Any Action Function # Conservation of Energy. Constants of the Motion # The Role of the Wave Function # Transition Probabilities # Expectation Values for Observables # Application to the Forced Harmonic Oscillator # Particles Interacting Through an Intermediate Oscillator # Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics # The Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics
There exists a paradigm in which Quantum Mechanics is an exclusively developed theory to explain phenomena on a microscopic scale. As the Planck's constant is extremely small, h∼10−34J.sh\sim10^{-34}{J.s}h∼10−34J.s, and as in the relation of de Broglie the wavelength is inversely proportional to the momentum; for a mesoscopic or macroscopic object the Broglie wavelength is very small, and consequently the undulatory behavior of this object is undetectable. In this paper we show that with a particle oscillating around its classical trajectory, the action is an integer multiple of a quantum of action, S=nhoS = nh_{o}S=nho​. The quantum of action, hoh_{o}ho​, which plays a role equivalent to Planck's constant, is a free parameter that must be determined and depends on the physical system considered. For a mesoscopic and macroscopic system: ho≫hh_{o}\gg hho​≫h, this allows us to describe these systems with the formalism of quantum mechanics.
In the classical mechanics of conservative systems, the position and momentum evolve deterministically such that the sum of the kinetic energy and potential energy remains constant in time. This canonical trademark of energy conservation is absent in the standard presentations of quantum mechanics based on the Schrödinger picture. We present a purely canonical proof of energy conservation that focuses exclusively on the time-dependent position x(t) and momentum p(t) operators. This treatment of energy conservation serves as an introduction to the Heisenberg picture and illuminates the classical-quantum connection. We derive a quantum-mechanical work-energy theorem and show explicitly how the time dependence of x and p and the noncommutivity of x and p conspire to bring about a perfect temporal balance between the evolving kinetic and potential parts of the total energy operator.
Ensembles and expectation values Equations of motion provide predictions of time-evolving variables of a dynamical system, and thereby enable us to predict the changing behavior. These equations are characteristic of a particular type of system, say a classical harmonic oscillator or a two-state quantum system. To complete the description of behavior one must specify initial conditions that select, from the many possible solutions to the equations of motion, a particular realization. In the example of a classical point particle the equation is second order in time, and so we need two initial conditions, of position and velocity, to specify a particular solution. These two numbers, taken with the classical equation of motion, provide a complete description of the behavior of a specific harmonic oscillator. Similarly the two-state quantum system requires two initial values to complete its definition. The initial conditions are never defined with infinite precision, even for classical mechanics. More generally we deal with an ensemble, that is, a collection of similar dynamical systems (e.g. oscillators) that differ in their preparation. The individual cases share some common attributes, but not necessarily all. Thus we have only incomplete information about any single system. We might, for example, consider planetary motion in which we know only the mean energy and the orbital plane. The loci of positions of the planets then form ellipses that make up the ensemble. Although it is possible to prepare a single two-state quantum system in which the initial state is known (apart from an overall phase), often one deals with ensembles of such systems, each of which may differ in some uncontrollable property.