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arXiv:quant-ph/0310092

Duality and Quantum Mechanics

J. M. Isidro

Published Oct 14, 2003• 1 citation
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Abstract

This Festschrift in honour of J. A. de Azcarraga gives an introduction to the concept of duality, i.e., to the relativity of the notion of a quantum, in the context of the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom. Although the concept of duality arises in string and M--theory, Vafa has argued that it should also have a counterpart in quantum mechanics, before moving on to second quantisation, fields, strings and branes. We illustrate our analysis with the case when classical phase space is complex projective space, but our conclusions can be generalised to other complex, symplectic phase spaces, both compact and noncompact.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0310092

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This Festschrift in honour of J. A. de Azcarraga gives an introduction to the concept of duality, i.e., to the relativity of the notion of a quantum, in the context of the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom. Although the concept of duality arises in string and M--theory, Vafa has argued that it should also have a counterpart in quantum mechanics, before moving on to second quantisation, fields, strings and branes. We illustrate our analysis with the case when classical phase space is complex projective space, but our conclusions can be generalised to other complex, symplectic phase spaces, both compact and noncompact.
The classical mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom requires a symplectic structure on phase space [Formula: see text], but it is independent of any complex structure. On the contrary, the quantum theory is intimately linked with the choice of a complex structure on [Formula: see text]. When the latter is a complex-analytic manifold admitting just one complex structure, there is a unique quantization whose classical limit is [Formula: see text]. Then the notion of coherence is the same for all observers. However, when [Formula: see text] admits two or more nonbiholomorphic complex structures, there is one different quantization per different complex structure on [Formula: see text]. The lack of analyticity in transforming between nonbiholomorphic complex structures can be interpreted as the loss of quantum-mechanical coherence under the corresponding transformation. Observers using one complex structure perceive as coherent the states that other observers, using a different complex structure, do not perceive as such. This is the notion of a quantum-mechanical duality transformation: the relativity of the notion of a quantum.
Duality transformations within the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom can be regarded as the dependence of the notion of a quantum, i.e., an elementary excitation of the vacuum, on the observer on classical phase space. Under an observer we understand, as in general relativity, a local coordinate chart. While classical mechanics can be formulated using a symplectic structure on classical phase space, quantum mechanics requires a complex-differentiable structure on that same space. Complex-differentiable structures on a given real manifold are often not unique. This article is devoted to analysing the dependence of the notion of a quantum on the complex-differentiable structure chosen on classical phase space. For that purpose we consider Kähler phase spaces, endowed with a dynamics whose Hamiltonian equals the local Kähler potential.
On classical phase spaces admitting just one complex-differentiable structure, there is no indeterminacy in the choice of the creation operators that create quanta out of a given vacuum. In these cases the notion of a quantum is universal, i.e. independent of the observer on classical phase space. Such is the case in all standard applications of quantum mechanics. However, recent developments suggest that the notion of a quantum may not be universal. Transformations between observers that do not agree on the notion of an elementary quantum are called dualities. Classical phase spaces admitting more than one complex-differentiable structure thus provide a natural framework to study dualities in quantum mechanics. As an example we quantise a classical mechanics whose phase space is a torus and prove explicitly that it exhibits dualities.
On classical phase spaces admitting just one complex-differentiable structure, there is no indeterminacy in the choice of the creation operators that create quanta out of a given vacuum. In these cases the notion of a quantum is universal, i.e., independent of the observer on classical phase space. Such is the case in all standard applications of quantum mechanics. However, recent developments suggest that the notion of a quantum may not be universal. Transformations between observers that do not agree on the notion of an elementary quantum are called dualities. Classical phase spaces admitting more than one complex-differentiable structure thus provide a natural framework to study dualities in quantum mechanics. As an example we quantise a classical mechanics whose phase space is a torus and prove explicitly that it exhibits dualities.
A recent concept in theoretical physics, motivated in string duality and M-theory, is the notion that not all quantum theories arise from quantising a classical system. Also, a given quantum model may possess more than just one classical limit. In view of these developments, we analyse some general properties that quantum mechanics must satisfy, if it is not to be formulated as a quantisation of a given classical mechanics. Instead, our approach to quantum mechanics is modelled on a statement that is close in spirit to the equivalence principle of general relativity, thus bearing a strong resemblance with the equivalence principle of quantum mechanics formulated by Faraggi-Matone.
A recent notion in theoretical physics is that not all quantum theories arise from quantizing a classical system. Also, a given quantum model may possess more than just one classical limit. There is strong evidence for these facts in string duality and M-theory, and it has been suggested that they should also have a counterpart in quantum mechanics. In view of these developments we propose dequantization , a mechanism to render a quantum theory classical. Specifically, we present a geometric procedure to dequantize a given quantum mechanics (regardless of its classical origin, if any) to possibly different classical limits, whose quantization gives back the original quantum theory. The standard classical limit ℏ→0 arises as a particular case of our approach.