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Oxford University Press eBooks

Lagrangians

Tom Lancaster, Stephen J. Blundell

Published Apr 17, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This chapter provides a formulation of classical mechanics, which is suitable for a quantum upgrade. The chapter then talks about functionals and Lagrangians.
DOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199699322.003.0002

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Path integral formulation of quantum mechanics (and also other equivalent formulations) depends on a Lagrangian and/or Hamiltonian function that is chosen to describe the underlying classical system. The arbitrariness presented in this choice leads to a phenomenon called Quantization ambiguity. For example both L1 = ˙q2 and L2 = eq˙ are suitable Lagrangians on a classical level (δL1 = δL2), but quantum mechanically they are diverse. This paper presents a simple rearrangement of the path integral to a surface functional integral. It is shown that the surface functional integral formulation gives transition probability amplitude which is free of any Lagrangian/Hamiltonian and requires just the underlying classical equations of motion. A simple example examining the functionality of the proposed method is considered.
There is no conservation of probability in the Euclidean formulation of the acceleration Lagrangian. A narrow definition of a Hamiltonian, and the one that holds in quantum mechanics but is not suitable for our case, is that the Hamiltonian defines a probability conserving unitary evolution. A broader definition of the Hamiltonian is adopted that is consistent with both statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Namely, the Hamiltonian – which is equivalent to the transfer matrix in statistical mechanics – is the generator of infinitesimal translations in time for both the Minkowski and Euclidean cases. The Hamiltonian derived for the acceleration Lagrangian in Chapter 13 is studied in this chapter using the concepts of the state space and operators. The Hamiltonian for unequal and real frequencies ω 1 ,ω 2 is pseudo-Hermitian and is explicitly mapped to a Hermitian Hamiltonian using a nontrivial differential operator. An explicit expression is obtained for the matrix element of the differential operator. The mapping fails for a critical value of the coupling constants. The Hamiltonian and state space are shown to have real and complex branches that are separated by the critical point. At the critical point, the Hamiltonian is inequivalent to any Hermitian operator, and is shown in Chapter 15 as being equal to an infinite-dimensional block diagonal matrix, with each block being a Jordan matrix.