The aim of the present chapter is to obtain concrete expressions for observables like position, linear momentum, orbital and spin angular momenta, energy etc., through an investigation of the projective unitary antiunitary (p.u.a.) representations of the groups under which the description of the quantum mechanical system is assumed to be covariant. (See sections 1.4 and 1.5). Special emphasis is laid on the Galilean group and the Poincare group. (See sections 4.2–4.5). The basic feature of these groups is that they are semidirect products of a vector group and a Lie group which acts on the vector group as nonsingular linear transformations.
The aim of the present chapter is to obtain concrete expressions for observables like position, linear momentum, orbital and spin angular momenta, energy etc., through an investigation of the projective unitary antiunitary (p.u.a.) representations of the groups under which the description of the quantum mechanical system is assumed to be covariant. (See sections 1.4 and 1.5). Special emphasis is laid on the Galilean group and the Poincare group. (See sections 4.2–4.5). The basic feature of these groups is that they are semidirect products of a vector group and a Lie group which acts on the vector group as nonsingular linear transformations.
This paper is devoted to the study of the Galilei group and its representations. The Galilei group presents a certain number of essential differences with respect to the Poincaré group. As Bargmann showed, its physical representations, here explicitly constructed, are not true representations but only up-to-a-factor ones. Consequently, in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, the mass has a very special role, and in fact, gives rise to a superselection rule which prevents the existence of unstable particles. The internal energy of a nonrelativistic system is known to be an arbitrary parameter; this is shown to come also from Galilean invariance, because of a nontrivial concept of equivalence between physical representations. On the contrary, the behavior of an elementary system with respect to rotations, is very similar to the relativistic case. We show here, in particular, how the number of polarization states reduces to two for the zero-mass case (though in fact there are no physical zero-mass systems in nonrelativistic mechanics). Finally, we study the two-particle system, where the orbital angular momenta quite naturally introduce themselves through the decomposition of the tensor product of two physical representations.
After a schematic examination of the ’’physical’’ representations of the Galilei group, a quantum mechanical description is drawn from a ’’laboratory’’ one in the case of a free elementary system with spin, assuming that the kinematical group is the Galilei group. In fact, the ’’laboratory states’’ of the system naturally fit in a Galilei−Hilbert bundle. Then, according to the general theory of the unitary representations of groups in the framework of Hilbert bundles which is outlined in this paper, a unitary representation of the Galilei group is constructed which is shown to contain all the physical Galilei representations. The quantum mechanical description which has been obtained in this way gives rise to an algebra of observables by means of a general procedure which connects a unitary representation of a Lie group with a Hilbert representation of the corresponding Lie algebra. The inner energy is shown to be a superobservable for the system under consideration. Moreover, the kinematical properties of such a system are independent of the values of the inner energy.
With the postulates already formulated in the language of an abstract inner product spaces, this chapter shows how an observable can be naturally expressed as a linear Hermitian operator acting on the inner product space where the states live. We start by introducing linear operators acting on vector spaces and their representations. Next, we discuss the systems of eigenvalues and eigenvectors associated with such operators. The important case of Hermitian operator and the properties of their eigenvalues and eigenvectors, relevant to quantum mechanics, are introduced. After developing the necessary background in linear algebra, the connection of Hermitian operators with quantum observables is established. We then proceed to explain what this connection actually accomplishes. In particular, we show how it translates the target questions of quantum mechanics into an eigenvalue problem. This makes it evident what the nature of the input to a quantum theory should be. This input enters the formalism through what are known as “quantization rules”. I discuss this in the last section of this chapter. An illustration using a disguised spin-half system winds up the chapter.
Abstract Mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics is closely connected with the theory of linear operators. A key quantum-mechanical principle is that physical quantities (observables) are represented by Hermitian linear operators that act on state vectors that belong to a Hilbert vector space. This chapter analyzes problems that deal with the basic concepts of the theory of linear operators; eigenfunctions, eigenvalues, mean values; the projection operators; quantum-mechanical representations of operators and wave-functions; and unitary operators.
Abstract Chapter 1 opens with a brief review of some basic features of quantum mechanics, including the Schrödinger equation, linear and angular momentum and the theory of the hydrogenic atom: It also includes complete orthonormal sets of eigenfunctions, the translation operator, current, spin, equation of continuity, gauge transformation, determinant & permanent multiparticle energy eigenfunctions for noninteracting particles and the Pauli exclusion principle. Attention is then focused on Dirac bra-ket notation and complete sets of commuting observables. In this connection, representations and transformation among representations are discussed in detail for the Schrödinger system state vector and the eigenstates, as well as bra-ket matrix elements of operators. Finally, Schwinger’s interpretation of ket-bra matrix operator structures (Schwinger “Measurement Symbols”) in terms of annihilation and creation of systems in eigenstates is introduced.
Introductory Remarks The concepts and techniques of angular momentum theory are by now all but ubiquitous in present-day quantum physics; there is scarcely a single issue of a physics journal that does not in some article directly use angular momentum constructs. It would accordingly be rather fatuous, if not indeed quite impossible, to attempt any definitive (or even very detailed) survey of applications. The purpose of this chapter is therefore rather more modest; we shall focus attention on several typical applications of the theory, in widely different contexts, with an emphasis toward illustrating the basic principles. In discussing any particular field of application, however, we have attempted not to be extensive, but instead have chosen to present a novel, or, at least, unfamiliar, aspect of the subject in some detail. (The discussion in Section 6g – of a result due to Casimir – provides a good example of our intentions.) Basic Principles Underlying the Applications Before turning to specific examples, it will be useful to review briefly the principles underlying the applications. We have seen that a symmetry in quantum physics is a transformation on state vectors (active view – vectors in Hilbert space are transformed and operators are kept fixed) and on observables (passive view – vectors in Hilbert space are kept fixed and operators are transformed) such that all probabilities are preserved (Chapter 3, Section 14). Using the Wigner theorem, we found that this led to either a unitary, or an antiunitary, realization of the symmetry by operators.