In this paper a new formulation of quantum dynamics of totally constrained systems is developed, in which physical quantities representing time are included as observables. In this formulation the hamiltonian constraints are imposed on a relative probability amplitude functional Ψ which determines the relative probability for each state to be observed, instead of on the state vectors as in the conventional Dirac quantization. This leads to a foliation of the state space by linear manifolds on each of which Ψ is constant, and dynamics is described as linear mappings among acausal subspaces which are transversal to these linear manifolds. This is a quantum analogue of the classical statistical dynamics of totally constrained systems developed in the previous paper. It is shown that if the von Neumann algebra C generated by constants of motion is of type I, Ψ can be consistently normalizable on the acausal subspaces on which a factor subalgebra of C is represented irreducibly, and the mappings among these acausal subspaces are conformal. How the formulation works is illustrated by simple totally constrained systems with a single constraint such as the parametrized quantum mechanics, a relativistic free particle in Minkowski and curved spacetimes, and a simple minisuperspace model. It is pointed out that the inner product of the relative probability amplitudes induced from the original Hilbert space picks up a special decomposition of the wave functions to the positive and the negative frequency modes.
In this paper a new formulation of quantum dynamics of totally constrained systems is developed, in which physical quantities representing time are included as observables. In this formulation the hamiltonian constraints are imposed on a relative probability amplitude functional Ψ which determines the relative probability for each state to be observed, instead of on the state vectors as in the conventional Dirac quantization. This leads to a foliation of the state space by linear manifolds on each of which Ψ is constant, and dynamics is described as linear mappings among acausal subspaces which are transversal to these linear manifolds. This is a quantum analogue of the classical statistical dynamics of totally constrained systems developed in the previous paper. It is shown that if the von Neumann algebra C generated by constants of motion is of type I, Ψ can be consistently normalizable on the acausal subspaces on which a factor subalgebra of C is represented irreducibly, and the mappings among these acausal subspaces are conformal. How the formulation works is illustrated by simple totally constrained systems with a single constraint such as the parametrized quantum mechanics, a relativistic free particle in Minkowski and curved spacetimes, and a simple minisuperspace model. It is pointed out that the inner product of the relative probability amplitudes induced from the original Hilbert space picks up a special decomposition of the wave functions to the positive and the negative frequency modes.
Two related problems in relativistic quantum mechanics, the apparent superluminal propagation of initially localized particles, and the dependence of their localization on the motion of the observer, are analyzed in the context of the theory of constraints. Time and energy operators are introduced for the free relativistic particle, and a parametrization invariant formulation is obtained through Dirac constraint theory. The resulting description is of a system constrained in momentum and energy, but not in position or time, for which observables are constants of the motion. The Klein-Gordon equation is recovered on a physical Hilbert space, constructed via integration over the proper time from an augmented Hilbert space, wherein time and energy are dynamical variables...
Open quantum systems are traditionally described by decomposing the total Hilbert space into a system and an external environment, linked by an explicit interaction Hamiltonian. We propose an alternative framework in which the environment is not introduced as an independent sector a priori, but instead emerges from the dynamical activation of constraints in an initially constrained quantum system. Within Dirac quantization, the physical degrees of freedom define the system, whereas the constraint sector, once promoted to carry its own dynamics, functions as an environment. In this picture, the system-environment coupling is not added through a separate interaction term, but is encoded directly in the constraint structure. As an example, we study a quantum particle coupled to a Brownian-oscillator environment and show how the resulting environmental influence can be formulated in this constraint-based setting. Our results provide a new perspective on the origin of quantum environments and point toward a general framework for open quantum systems rooted in constrained quantization.
An effective formalism for quantum constrained systems is presented which allows manageable derivations of solutions and observables, including a treatment of physical reality conditions without requiring full knowledge of the physical inner product. Instead of a state equation from a constraint operator, an infinite system of constraint functions on the quantum phase space of expectation values and moments of states is used. The examples of linear constraints as well as the free non-relativistic particle in parametrized form illustrate how standard problems of constrained systems can be dealt with in this framework.
Semiclassical mechanics of systems with first-class constraints is developed. Starting from the quantum theory, one investigates such objects as semiclassical states and observables, semiclassical inner product, semiclassical gauge transformations and evolution. Quantum mechanical semiclassical substitutions (not only the WKB-ansatz) can be viewed as "composed semiclassical states" being infinite superpositions of wave packets with minimal uncertainties of coordinates and momenta ("elementary semiclassical states"). Each elementary semiclassical state is specified by a set (X,f) of classical variables X (phase, coordinates, momenta) and quantum function f ("shape of the wave packet" or "quantum state in the background X"). A notion of an elemantary semiclassical state can be generalized to the constrained systems, provided that one uses the refined algebraic quantization approach based on modifying the inner product rather than on imposing the constrained conditions on physical states. The inner product of physical states is evaluated. It is obtained that classical part of X the semiclassical state should belong to the constrained surface; otherwise, the semiclassical state (X,f) will have zero norm for all f. Even under classical constraint conditions, the semiclassical inner product is degenerate. One should factorize then the space of semiclassical states. Semiclassical gauge transformations and evolution of semiclassical states are studied. The correspondence with semiclassical Dirac approach is discussed.
Non-relativistic quantum theory is derived from information codified into an appropriate statistical model. The basic assumption is that there is an irreducible uncertainty in the location of particles: positions constitute a configuration space and the corresponding probability distributions constitute a statistical manifold. The dynamics follows from a principle of inference, the method of Maximum Entropy. The concept of time is introduced as a convenient way to keep track of change. A welcome feature is that the entropic dynamics notion of time incorporates a natural distinction between past and future. The statistical manifold is assumed to be a dynamical entity: its curved and evolving geometry determines the evolution of the particles which, in their turn, react back and determine the evolution of the geometry. Imposing that the dynamics conserve energy leads to the Schroedinger equation and to a natural explanation of its linearity, its unitarity, and of the role of complex numbers. The phase of the wave function is explained as a feature of purely statistical origin. There is a quantum analogue to the gravitational equivalence principle.
Following previous works by E. Prugovečki [Physica A 91A, 202 (1978) and Stochastic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Space–time (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1986)] on common features of classical and quantum mechanics, we develop a unified mathematical framework for classical and quantum mechanics (based on L2-spaces over classical phase space), in order to investigate to what extent quantum mechanics can be obtained as a simple modification of classical mechanics (on both logical and analytical levels). To obtain this unified framework, we split quantum theory in two parts: (i) general quantum axiomatics (a system is described by a state in a Hilbert space, observables are self-adjoints operators, and so on) and (ii) quantum mechanics proper that specifies the Hilbert space as L2(Rn); the Heisenberg rule [pi,qj]=−iℏδij with p=−iℏ∇, the free Hamiltonian H=−ℏ2Δ/2m and so on. We show that general quantum axiomatics (up to a supplementary “axiom of classicity”) can be used as a nonstandard mathematical ground to formulate physical ideas and equations of ordinary classical statistical mechanics. So, the question of a “true quantization” with “ℏ” must be seen as an independent physical problem not directly related with quantum formalism. At this stage, we show that this nonstandard formulation of classical mechanics exhibits a new kind of operation that has no classical counterpart: this operation is related to the “quantization process,” and we show why quantization physically depends on group theory (the Galilei group). This analytical procedure of quantization replaces the “correspondence principle” (or canonical quantization) and allows us to map classical mechanics into quantum mechanics, giving all operators of quantum dynamics and the Schrödinger equation. The great advantage of this point of view is that quantization is based on concrete physical arguments and not derived from some “pure algebraic rule” (we exhibit also some limit of the correspondence principle). Moreover spins for particles are naturally generated, including an approximation of their interaction with magnetic fields. We also recover by this approach the semi-classical formalism developed by E. Prugovečki [Stochastic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Space–time (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1986)].