The rotational wigner function

Anthony G. St. Pierre, William A. Steele

YU Hai-jun, Jian-ming Du, Xiulan Zhang

In this paper, the expression of Wigner operator in the coherent state is derived using the IWOP technology. The Wigner function of a kind of special single-mode squeezed state is calculated. When the rotation parameter value changes, the numerical calculations show that the Wigner function in the phase space possesses a rotation displacement feature.

João P. S. Bizarro

A comprehensive study is presented on the Weyl-Wigner formalism for rotation-angle and angular-momentum variables: the elements of kinematics are extended, the elements of dynamics are established, and the implications of rotational perodicity and angular-momentum quantization are investigated. Particular attention is paid to discreteness, and two of its consequences are emphasized: the importance of evenness and oddness, and the need to use two difference operators in a discrete domain, whereas one differential operator suffices in a continuous domain. These consequences are shown to strongly distinguish the Weyl-Wigner formalism for rotation-angle and angular-momentum variables from the well-known Weyl-Wigner formalism for Cartesian-position and linear-momentum variables. The point is made clear that the first of these formalisms cannot be regarded as a trivial and straightforward extension of the second. The rotational Wigner function is derived as the only bilinear form of the state vector that is real, has the natural invariances for rotational motion, and yields the correct distributions for the rotation-angle and angular-momentum variables as well as the appropriate expression for the transition probability between states. The conditions for its uniqueness are thus established. Its properties are described in detail and, in particular, its uniform boundedness is demonstrated. The rotational Wigner function and the associated correspondence between quantum operators and classical-like functions, as well as the relations they obey, are explored and are written so as to clearly exhibit the distinct contributions of evenness and oddness in the discrete domain of the angular-momentum eigenvalues, thus providing a most natural way to account for periodicity.Using the derivative, which acts on the continuous rotation-angle variable, and the forward and backward differences, which act on the discrete angular-momentum variable, the equation of motion for the rotational Wigner function is established. This equation is detailed for the following Hamiltonian forms: those that depend only on the angular-momentum variable, including, in particular, the free rotator, and those that are in the cosine of the rotation-angle variable. It is verified that the Weyl-Wigner formalism for rotation-angle and angular-momentum variables has the correct nonperiodic limit and that it properly reduces to the Weyl-Wigner formalism for Cartesian-position and linear-momentum variables. In order to illustrate the formalism, a careful analysis is carried out for the rotational Wigner function representing the energy eigenstates of a hindered rotator whose Hamiltonian is the sum of a term in the absolute value of the angular-momentum variable with a term in the cosine of the rotation-angle variable. For this hindered rotator, and within the approximation of a large absolute value of the angular-momentum variable, the equation of motion for the rotational Wigner function is solved for its stationary solutions, and the time-independent Schr\"odinger equation is also solved.

William K. Wootters

K. A. Nasyrov

Wigner representations of the rotational motion of a rotator or spherical top, as well as symmetrical and arbitrary tops are presented. The unique form of the transformations to these representations is derived using a set of natural requirements. As a particular case of these representations, a Wigner representation of angular momentum orientation is found. Relations between this representation and those of irreducible tensor operators and coherent states are established. For large angular momentum l >>1, rough equations for the Wigner functions are derived, and it is shown that they are similar to the well known equation for the Wigner function for translational motion.