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arXiv:quant-ph/0106105

Dirac's equation in 1+1 D from a random walk

Michael Ibison

Published Jun 19, 2001• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

This paper is an investigation of the class of real classical Markov processes without a birth process that will generate the Dirac equation in 1+1 dimensions. The Markov process is assumed to evolve in an extra (ordinal) time dimension. The derivation requires that occupation by the Dirac particle of a space-time lattice site is encoded in a 4 state classical probability vector. Disregarding the state occupancy, the resulting Markov process is a homogeneous and almost isotropic binary random walk in Dirac space and Dirac time (including Dirac time reversals). It then emerges that the Dirac wavefunction can be identified with a polarization induced by the walk on the Dirac space-time lattice. The model predicts that QM observation must happen in ordinal time, and that wavefunction collapse is due not to a dynamical discontinuity, but to selection of a particular ordinal time. Consequently, the model is more relativistically equitable in its treatment of space and time in that the observer is attributed no special ability to specify the Dirac time of observation.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0106105

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This paper is an investigation of the class of real classical Markov processes without a birth process that will generate the Dirac equation in 1+1 dimensions. The Markov process is assumed to evolve in an extra (ordinal) time dimension. The derivation requires that occupation by the Dirac particle of a space-time lattice site is encoded in a 4 state classical probability vector. Disregarding the state occupancy, the resulting Markov process is a homogeneous and almost isotropic binary random walk in Dirac space and Dirac time (including Dirac time reversals). It then emerges that the Dirac wavefunction can be identified with a polarization induced by the walk on the Dirac space-time lattice. The model predicts that QM observation must happen in ordinal time, and that wavefunction collapse is due not to a dynamical discontinuity, but to selection of a particular ordinal time. Consequently, the model is more relativistically equitable in its treatment of space and time in that the observer is attributed no special ability to specify the Dirac time of observation.
It has been observed that quantum walks on regular lattices can give rise to wave equations for relativistic particles in the continuum limit. In this paper, we define the three-dimensional discrete-time walk as a product of three coined one-dimensional walks. The factor corresponding to each one-dimensional walk involves two projection operators that act on an internal coin space; each projector is associated with either the ``forward'' or ``backward'' direction in that physical dimension. We show that the simple requirement that there is no preferred axis or direction along an axis---that is, that the walk be symmetric under parity transformations and steps along different axes of the cubic lattice be uncorrelated---leads, in the case of the simplest solution, to the requirement that the continuum limit of the walk is fully Lorentz-invariant. We show further that, in the case of a massive particle, this symmetry requirement necessitates the use of a four-dimensional internal space (as in the Dirac equation). The ``coin flip'' operation is generated by the parity transformation on the internal coin space, while the differences of the projection operators associated with each dimension must all anticommute. Finally, we discuss the leading correction to the continuum limit, and the possibility of distinguishing through experiment between the discrete random walk and the continuum-based Dirac equation as a description of fermion dynamics.
The Dirac equation can be modelled as a quantum walk (QW), whose main features are being: discrete in time and space (i.e. a unitary evolution of the wave-function of a particle on a lattice); homogeneous (i.e. translation-invariant and time-independent) and causal (i.e. information propagates at a bounded speed, in a strict sense). This link, which was proposed already by Succi and Benzi, Bialynicki-Birula and Meyer, is shown to hold for Bargmann–Wigner equations and symmetric hyperbolic systems in general. We then analytically prove the convergence of the solution of the QW to the solution of the Cauchy problem for the Dirac equation. We do so by adapting a powerful method from standard numerical analysis, which is of general interest to the field of quantum simulation. At the practical level, this result provides precise error bounds and convergence rates, thereby validating the QW as a quantum simulation scheme. At the theoretical level, it reinforces the status of this QW as a simple, discrete toy model of relativistic particles.
In this paper we consider quantum walks whose evolution converges to the Dirac equation in the limit of small wave-vectors. We show exact Fast Fourier implementation of the Dirac quantum walks in one, two, and three space dimensions. The behaviour of particle states—defined as states smoothly peaked in some wave-vector eigenstate of the walk—is described by an approximated dispersive differential equation that for small wave-vectors gives the usual Dirac particle and antiparticle kinematics. The accuracy of the approximation is provided in terms of a lower bound on the fidelity between the exactly evolved state and the approximated one. The jittering of the position operator expectation value for states having both a particle and an antiparticle component is analytically derived and observed in the numerical implementations.
We consider the motion of a classical particle in (1+1)-dimensional space-time. Four probability distributions govern the trajectory of the particle; these give the probability of moving to the left or right in space while moving backwards or forwards in time. If these probabilities are randomly distributed and if the probability of moving backwards in time is related to the probability of moving forwards in time in a prescribed manner, then the master equations for these probabilities give rise to the Dirac equation without recourse to direct analytic continuation. In contrast, when a particle always moves forward in time, an analytic continuation is required to recover the Dirac equation.
This paper presents a simple model that mimics quantum mechanics (QM) results in terms of probability fields of free particles subject to self-interference, without using Schroedinger equation or complex wavefunctions. Unlike the standard QM picture, the proposed model only uses integer-valued quantities and arithmetic operations. In particular, it assumes a discrete spacetime under the form of an euclidean lattice. The proposed approach describes individual particle trajectories as random walks. Transition probabilities are simple functions of a few quantities that are either randomly associated to the particles during their preparation, or stored in the lattice sites they visit during the walk. Non-relativistic QM predictions, particularly selfinterference, are retrieved as probability distributions of similarly-prepared ensembles of particles. Extension to interacting particles is discussed but not detailed in this paper.