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arXiv:gr-qc/0512016 · Journal of Physics Conference Series

Deterministic models of quantum fields

Hans-Thomas Elze

Published Mar 1, 2006• 31 citations
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Abstract

Deterministic dynamical models are discussed which can be described in quantum mechanical terms. - In particular, a local quantum field theory is presented which is a supersymmetric classical model [1]. The Hilbert space approach of Koopman and von Neumann is used to study the classical evolution of an ensemble of such systems. Its Liouville operator is decomposed into two contributions, with positive and negative spectrum, respectively. The unstable negative part is eliminated by a constraint on physical states, which is invariant under the Hamiltonian flow. Thus, choosing suitable variables, the classical Liouville equation becomes a functional Schrödinger equation of a genuine quantum field theory. - We briefly mention an U(1) gauge theory with ''varying alpha'' or dilaton coupling where a corresponding quantized theory emerges in the phase space approach [2]. It is energy-parity symmetric and, therefore, a prototype of a model in which the cosmological constant is protected by a symmetry.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/33/1/049

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Deterministic dynamical models are discussed which can be described in quantum mechanical terms. - In particular, a local quantum field theory is presented which is a supersymmetric classical model [1]. The Hilbert space approach of Koopman and von Neumann is used to study the classical evolution of an ensemble of such systems. Its Liouville operator is decomposed into two contributions, with positive and negative spectrum, respectively. The unstable negative part is eliminated by a constraint on physical states, which is invariant under the Hamiltonian flow. Thus, choosing suitable variables, the classical Liouville equation becomes a functional Schrödinger equation of a genuine quantum field theory. - We briefly mention an U(1) gauge theory with ''varying alpha'' or dilaton coupling where a corresponding quantized theory emerges in the phase space approach [2]. It is energy-parity symmetric and, therefore, a prototype of a model in which the cosmological constant is protected by a symmetry.
Deterministic dynamical models are discussed which can be described in quantum mechanical terms. In particular, a local quantum field theory is presented which is a supersymmetric classical model. -- The Hilbert space approach of Koopman and von Neumann is used to study the evolution of an ensemble of such classical systems. With the help of the supersymmetry algebra, the corresponding Liouville operator can be decomposed into two contributions, with positive and negative spectrum, respectively. The unstable negative part is eliminated by a constraint on physical states, which is invariant under the Hamiltonian flow. In this way, choosing suitable phase space coordinates, the classical Liouville equation becomes a functional Schroedinger equation of a genuine quantum field theory. Quantization here is intimately related to the constraint, which selects the part of Hilbert space where the Hamilton operator is positive. This is interpreted as dynamical symmetry breaking in an extended model, introducing a mass scale which discriminates classical dynamics beneath from emergent quantum mechanical behaviour.
We explore whether quantum field theory can be understood as the statistical mechanics of a time-reversal-invariant stochastic generalization of Hamiltonian dynamics. The motivation for this project, started with this paper, is to assign sharp values to all observables and thereby avoid the quantum measurement problem. In classical mechanics, motion is deterministic and corresponds to an evolution of the phase space probability density according to Liouville's equation that is governed by first derivatives of the Hamiltonian in phase space. We derive a generalization of the Liouville equation with natural constraints -- namely, reduction to classical Hamiltonian dynamics as the stochasticity parameter ℏ↦0\hbar\mapsto0ℏ↦0, Fokker-Planck form for the probability density evolution, local Hamiltonian dependence, time-reversal invariance, energy conservation, and minimality -- which turns out to be a Fokker-Planck equation with a generalized diffusion matrix that is symmetric, traceless, and constructed from the Hessian of the Hamiltonian. We then show that the Schrödinger equation in the coherent-state phase-space formulation of certain bosonic QFTs has precisely this form, with the Husimi function playing the role of the phase space probability density. The question to what extent this equation can be interpreted in terms of objective stochastic field theories is discussed in a companion paper.
A quantum field theory is described which is a supersymmetric classical model. Supersymmetry generators of the system are used to split its Liouville operator into two contributions, with positive and negative spectrum, respectively. The unstable negative part is eliminated by a positivity constraint on physical states, which is invariant under the classical Hamiltonian flow. In this way, the classical Liouville equation becomes a functional Schrödinger equation of a genuine quantum field theory. Thus, 't Hooft's proposal to reconstruct quantum theory as emergent from an underlying deterministic system, is realized here for a field theory. Quantization is intimately related to the constraint, which selects the part of Hilbert space where the Hamilton operator is positive. This is seen as dynamical symmetry breaking in a suitably extended model, depending on a mass scale which discriminates classical dynamics beneath from emergent quantum mechanical behaviour.
The dissipative dynamics anticipated in the proof of 't Hooft's existence theorem — "For any quantum system there exists at least one deterministic model that reproduces all its dynamics after prequantization" — is constructed here explicitly. We propose a generalization of Liouville's classical phase space equation, incorporating dissipation and diffusion, and demonstrate that it describes the emergence of quantum states and their dynamics in the Schrödinger picture. Asymptotically, there is a stable ground state and two decoupled sets of degrees of freedom, which transform into each other under the energy-parity symmetry of Kaplan and Sundrum. They recover the familiar Hilbert space and its dual. Expectations of observables are shown to agree with the Born rule, which is not imposed a priori. This attractor mechanism is applicable in the presence of interactions, to few-body or field theories in particular.
We discuss an explicit realization of the dissipative dynamics anticipated in the proof of 't Hooft's existence theorem, which states that ' For any quantum system there exists at least one deterministic model that reproduces all its dynamics after prequantization' . – There is an energy-parity symmetry hidden in the Liouville equation, which mimics the Kaplan-Sundrum protective symmetry for the cosmological constant. This symmetry may be broken by the coarse-graining inherent in physics at scales much larger than the Planck length. We correspondingly modify classical ensemble theory by incorporating dissipative fluctuations (information loss) – which are caused by discrete spacetime continually 'measuring' matter. In this way, aspects of quantum mechanics, such as the von Neumann equation, including a Lindblad term, arise dynamically and expectations of observables agree with the Born rule. However, the resulting quantum coherence is accompanied by an intrinsic decoherence and continuous localization mechanism. Our proposal leads towards a theory that is linear and local at the quantum mechanical level, but the relation to the underlying classical degrees of freedom is nonlocal.
We show that QM can be represented as a natural projection of a classical statistical model on the phase space Ω = H × H , where H is the real Hilbert space. Statistical states are given by Gaussian measures on Ω having zero mean value and dispersion of very small magnitude α (which is considered as a small parameter of the model). Such statistical states can be interpreted as fluctuations of the background field, cf. with SED and Nelson's mechanics. Physical variables (e.g., energy) are given by maps f : Ω → R (functions of classical fields). The conventional quantum representation of our prequantum classical statistical model is constructed on the basis of the Taylor expansion (up to the terms of the second order at the vacuum field point ψ vacuum ≡ 0) of variables f : Ω → R with respect to the small parameter √α The complex structure of QM is induced by the symplectic structure on the infinite-dimensional phase space Ω. A Gaussian measure (statistical state) is represented in QM by its covariation operator. Equations of Schrödinger, Heisenberg and von Neumann are images of Hamiltonian dynamics on Ω. The main experimental prediction of our prequantum model is that experimental statistical averages can deviate from ones given by QM.