We construct the algebra of operators acting on the Hilbert spaces of Quantum Mechanics for systems of N identical particles from the field operators acting in the Fock space of Quantum Field Theory by providing the explicit relation between the position and momentum operators acting in the former spaces and the field operators acting on the latter.This is done in the context of the non-interacting Klein-Gordon field.It may not be possible to extend the procedure to interacting field theories since it relies crucially on particle number conservation.We find it nevertheless important that such an explicit relation can be found at least for free fields.It also comes out that whatever statistics the field operators obey (either commuting or anticommuting), the position and momentum operators obey commutation relations.The construction of position operators raises the issue of localizability of particles in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, as the position operator for a single particle turns out to be the Newton-Wigner position operator.We make some clarifications on the interpretation of Newton-Wigner localized states and we consider the transformation properties of position operators under Lorentz transformations, showing that they do not transform as tensors, rather in a manner that preserves the canonical commutation relations.
We construct the algebra of operators acting on the Hilbert spaces of Quantum Mechanics for systems of N identical particles from the field operators acting in the Fock space of Quantum Field Theory by providing the explicit relation between the position and momentum operators acting in the former spaces and the field operators acting on the latter.This is done in the context of the non-interacting Klein-Gordon field.It may not be possible to extend the procedure to interacting field theories since it relies crucially on particle number conservation.We find it nevertheless important that such an explicit relation can be found at least for free fields.It also comes out that whatever statistics the field operators obey (either commuting or anticommuting), the position and momentum operators obey commutation relations.The construction of position operators raises the issue of localizability of particles in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, as the position operator for a single particle turns out to be the Newton-Wigner position operator.We make some clarifications on the interpretation of Newton-Wigner localized states and we consider the transformation properties of position operators under Lorentz transformations, showing that they do not transform as tensors, rather in a manner that preserves the canonical commutation relations.
"The problem of providing a physical interpretation of a relativistic quantum theory is discussed. It is shown that a single operator corresponding to a localized measurement on the states of the-theory is sufficient for a significant part (perhaps all) of this interpretation. The application of this method of interpretation to the relativistic quantum theory defined on the representation space of an irreducible representation of a higher symmetry group containing the Poincare group is discussed. It is concluded that the higher symmetry is, in fact, of little use for this interpretation. This .leads in a natural way to the problem of finding some of these ""quasilocal"" operators on the space of states of a given relativistic quantum theory. 1'/ This problem is specialized to the problem of constructing a model relativistic quantum theory of a certain type. The procedure used is to attempt to construct a representation of the generators of the Poincare group on the Fock space X of real scalarbosons in such a way that quasilocal observables are easily expressible in terms of the canonical creation-destruction operators. The structure of the model permits the construction of the generators to be approached by successively satisfying their structure relations in each of the spaces ~(n) specified by the eigenvalues of the free field particle number operator. These structure relations are satisfied in~(l) and~(2). The mathematical details of the problem increase rapidly with n, and no explicit solution is obtained for n > 2. Arguments are given which make it plausible that the structure relations in~(n), with n> 2, may be satisfied by a large class of generators. Several trial solutions in the space ~(3) are described, and the difficulties associated with them are discussed."
Abstract In the previous sections we treated the irreducible representation space associated with the vacuum state. In this chapter we treat other representation spaces necessary to describe particle systems with the vacuum as a background. Such representation spaces are characterized as transportable localized excitations on the vacuum background. If we assume Haag’s duality of the vacuum representation, such a localized excitation is described by a localized endomorphism of the observables and its equivalence classes correspond to different representations called sectors(eigensubspaces of the superselection rules in each of which unrestricted superposition principle holds). From the discussion about composition and conjugation of localized endomorphisms, we define the statistics (of a sector) which represents the behaviour of more than two equivalent localized excitations under permutation, and we derive the connection of spin and statistics. We also introduce the lattice of local field algebras as operators intertwining different sectors, and the gauge group acting on them. Then the local observable algebras are the gauge invariant part of the local field algebras and sectors are inequivalent representations of the gauge group. The local field algebras can be chosen to satisfy the standard commutation or anticommutation relations between space-like separated regions and we can derive the connection of spin and statistics of sectors. In this way we obtain a deep understanding of the reason why Fermi fields in spatially separated regions anticommute.
We present details of a mathematical theory of superselection sectors and their statistics in local quantum theory over (two- and) three-dimensional space-time. The framework for our analysis is algebraic quantum field theory. Statistics of superselection sectors in three-dimensional local quantum theory with charges not localizable in bounded space-time regions and in two-dimensional chiral theories is described in terms of unitary representations of the braid groups generated by certain Yang-Baxter matrices. We describe the beginnings of a systematic classification of those representations. Our analysis makes contact with the classification theory of subfactors initiated by Jones. We prove a general theorem on the connection between spin and statistics in theories with braid statistics. We also show that every theory with braid statistics gives rise to a “Verlinde algebra”. It determines a projective representation of SL(2, ℤ) and, presumably, of the mapping class group of any Riemann surface, even if the theory does not display conformal symmetry.
Let
H1 be a finite dimensional complex Hilbert space. Let
ψ↦Z(ψ) be a canonical anti-commutation relations (CAR) field over
H1 acting irreducibly on a Hilbert space
K. The
∗-algebra
AH1 generated by the
Z(ψ),
ψ∈H1, is simply all operators on
K. However, the CAR field endows
AH1 with additional structure, and we are concerned with quantum operations acting in harmony with this structure. In particular, there is a "gauge" automorphism group generated by "second quantizing''
ψ↦eitψ. The fixed point algebra of the gauge group,
GH1, is a sub-algebra of
AH1 studied by Araki and Wyss. It contains the density matrices of an important class of states, the {\em gauge invariant Gaussian states},
SGIG.
Our focus is on semigroups
{etL}t≥0 of quantum operations on
AH1 that map
SGIG into itself. Each
etL is one-to-one, and our first main result is a structure theorem for such quantum operations on
GH1 that map
SGIG into itself.
We apply this to study semigroups of quantum operations on
GH1 that map
SGIG into itself. Our second main result is a structure theorem showing that they are parameterized by pairs
(G,A) where
G is a contraction semigroup generator on
H1, and
0≤A≤−G−G∗. We then show that each of these semigroups has a natural extension to the full CAR algebra
AH1. Further results are obtained under further assumptions on the pair
(G,A).