CRC Press eBooks
Functional Derivative
Lukong Cornelius Fai
Abstract
As in path integration one deals with classical functions and functionals rather than with operators then fairly simple classical manipulations of path integration can lead to non-trivial quantum mechanical identities. We consider a simple example of the functional derivative that relates some functional, say, Ϝ[ q ] where the function q ( t ) changes by y ( t ) and the transition amplitude Κ remains invariant: 13.1 δ F = F q + y − F q = ∫ δ F s δ q s y s d s ≡ ∫ Α q s y s d s https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003145554/875ff22b-09e9-4373-a808-2051f13516c8/content/eqn13_1.jpg"/> and 13.2 d F = Α d q https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003145554/875ff22b-09e9-4373-a808-2051f13516c8/content/eqn13_2.jpg"/>