Path Integrals—A First Look

R. MacKenzie

These lectures are intended as an introduction to the technique of path integrals and their applications in physics. The audience is mainly first-year graduate students, and it is assumed that the reader has a good foundation in quantum mechanics. No prior exposure to path integrals is assumed, however. The path integral is a formulation of quantum mechanics equivalent to the standard formulations, offering a new way of looking at the subject which is, arguably, more intuitive than the usual approaches. Applications of path integrals are as vast as those of quantum mechanics itself, including the quantum mechanics of a single particle, statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics and quantum field theory. After an introduction including a very brief historical overview of the subject, we derive a path integral expression for the propagator in quantum mechanics, including the free particle and harmonic oscillator as examples. We then discuss a variety of applications, including path integrals in multiply-connected spaces, Euclidean path integrals and statistical mechanics, perturbation theory in quantum mechanics and in quantum field theory, and instantons via path integrals. For the most part, the emphasis is on explicit calculations in the familiar setting of quantum mechanics, with some discussion (often brief and schematic) of how these ideas can be applied to more complicated situations such as field theory.

R. Shankar

Chris M Field, Frank Willem Nijhoff

The path integral approach to the quantization of one degree-of-freedom Newtonian particles is considered within the discrete time-slicing approach, as in Feynman's original development. In the time-slicing approximation the quantum mechanical evolution will generally not have any stationary states. We look for conditions on the potential energy term such that the quantum mechanical evolution may possess stationary states without having to perform a continuum limit. When the stationary states are postulated to be solutions of a second-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) eigenvalue problem it is found that the potential is required to be a solution of a particular first-order ODE. Similarly, when the stationary states are postulated to be solutions of a second-order ordinary difference equation (O$Δ$E) eigenvalue problem the potential is required to be a solution of a particular first-order O$Δ$E. The classical limits (which are at times very nontrivial) are integrable maps.

Yuri Makeenko

Nick Laskin

"Fractional quantum mechanics is a recently emerged and rapidly developing field of quantum physics. This is the first monograph on fundamentals and physical applications of fractional quantum mechanics, written by its founder.The fractional Schrödinger equation and the fractional path integral are new fundamental physical concepts introduced and elaborated in the book. The fractional Schrödinger equation is a manifestation of fractional quantum mechanics. The fractional path integral is a new mathematical tool based on integration over Lévy flights. The fractional path integral method enhances the well-known Feynman path integral framework. Related topics covered in the text include time fractional quantum mechanics, fractional statistical mechanics, fractional classical mechanics and the α-stable Lévy random process. The book is well-suited for theorists, pure and applied mathematicians, solid-state physicists, chemists, and others working with the Schrödinger equation, the path integral technique and applications of fractional calculus in various research areas. It is useful to skilled researchers as well as to graduate students looking for new ideas and advanced approaches."--Publisher's website

Edward B. Manoukian