We consider questions related to a quantization scheme in which a classical variable f:Ω\to R on a phase space Ωis associated with a semispectral measure E^f, such that the moment operators of E^f are required to be of the form Γ(f^k), with Γa suitable mapping from the set of classical variables to the set of (not necessarily bounded) operators in some Hilbert space. In particular, we investigate the situation where the map Γis implemented by the operator integral with respect to some fixed positive operator measure. The phase space Ωis first taken to be an abstract measurable space, then a locally compact unimodular group, and finally R^2, where we determine explicitly the relevant operators Γ(f^k) for certain variables f, in the case where the quantization map Γis implemented by a translation covariant positive operator measure. In addition, we consider the question under what conditions a positive operator measure is projection valued.
Second quantization is an essential topic in senior undergraduate and postgraduate level Quantum Mechanics course. However, it seems that there is a lack of transparent and natural derivation of this formalism from the first-quantization one in most existing textbooks. Without introducing the concept of a simple harmonic oscillator and taking the case of an assembly of identical fermions as an example, we provide a less ad hoc derivation of the second quantization formalism based on the equivalence of the fully antisymmetric many-fermion states and the Fock states.
Very recently we present a theory [Wei-long She, Chin. Phys. 14, 2514(2005); Online: http://www.jop.org/journals/cp; http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0512097] to show that the quantization of light energy in vacuum can be derived directly from classical electromagnetic theory through the consideration of statistics based on classical physics and reveal that the quantization of energy is an intrinsic property of light as a classical electromagnetic wave and has no need of being related to particles. In this theory a key concept of stability of statistical distribution was involved. Here is a note …
This is the current form of lecture notes on my approach to field quantization. I explain on a simple scalar-field model the physical motivation and show some preliminary applications (field produced by a pointlike charge, the vacuum-to-vacuum loop diagram, the Casimir presure). The approach is based on an appropriate construction of a representation of harmonic-oscillator Lie algebra and a sequential definition of Dirac deltas.
The issue of non-perturbative background independent quantization of matrix models is addressed. The analysis is carried out by considering a simple matrix model which is a matrix extension of ordinary mechanics reduced to 0 dimension. It is shown that this model has an ordinary mechanical system evolving in time as a classical solution. But in this treatment the action principle admits a natural modification which results in algebraic relations describing quantum theory. The origin of quantization is similar to that in Adler's generalized quantum dynamics. The problem with extension of this f…
These lecture notes (from the Second Autumn School in High Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theory, Yerevan 2014) cover a number of topics related to geometric quantization. Most of the material is presented from a physicist's point of view. The original notes are posted at \verb+http://theorphyslab-ysu.info/VW_ASW-2014/uploads/ArmeniaLectures.pdf+. The have been revised with some additions and changes, although referencing is still somewhat dated. These notes are posted here as they may be good background material for some recent papers.
Phase operators are constructed using a Klauder-Berezin coherent state quantization in finite Hilbert subspaces of the Hilbert space of Fourier series. The study of infinite dimensional limits of mean values of some observables phase leads towards a simpler convergence to the canonical commutation relations.
Using the fact that the nonintegrable phase factor can reformulate the gauge theory in terms of path dependent vector potentials, the quantization condition for the nonintegrable phase is investigated. It is shown that the path-dependent formalism can provide compact description of the flux quantization and the charge quantization at the existence of a magnetic monopole. Moreover, the path-dependent formalism gives suggestions for searching of the quantized flux in different configurations and for other possible reasons of the charge quantization. As an example, the developed formalism is empl…
A Wiener-regularized path integral is presented as an alternative way to formulate Berezin-Toeplitz quantization on a toroidal phase space. Essential to the result is that this quantization prescription for the torus can be constructed as an induced representation from anti-Wick quantization on its covering space, the plane. When this construction is expressed in the form of a Wiener-regularized path integral, symmetrization prescriptions for the propagator emerge similar to earlier path-integral formulas on multiply-connected configuration spaces.
The energy levels of hydrogen-like atoms are obtained from the phase-space quantization, one of the pillars of the old quantum theory, by three different methods - (i) direct integration, (ii) Sommerfeld's original method, and (iii) complex integration. The difficulties come from the imposition of elliptical orbits to the electron, resulting in a variable radial component of the linear momentum. Details of the calculation, which constitute a recurrent gap in textbooks that deal with phase-space quantization, are shown in depth in an accessible fashion for students of introductory quantum mecha…
I examine whether Nelson's stochastic formulation of Schrödinger equation could be derived from a phase space process through a colored noise smoothing. If this conjecture is true, it would yield a local stochastic hidden variable theory. I discuss how this does not necessarily contradict Bell type theorems as general local stochastic theories can violate local causality assumptions. I also discuss the generalization to quantization of fields and speculate about the gravitational origins of noise.
We examine two singular Lagrangian systems with constraints which apparently reduce the phase space to a 2-dimensional sphere and a 2-dimensional hyperboloid. Rigorous constraint analysis by Dirac's method, however, gives 2-dimensional open disc and an infinite plane with a hole in the centre respectively as the reduced phase spaces. Upon canonical quantisation the classical constraints show up as restrictions on the Hilbert space.
Semiclassical quantization is exact only for the so called \emph{solvable} potentials, such as the harmonic oscillator. In the \emph{nonsolvable} case the semiclassical phase, given by a series in $\hbar$, yields more or less approximate results and eventually diverges due to the asymptotic nature of the expansion. A quantum phase is derived to bypass these shortcomings. It achieves exact quantization of nonsolvable potentials and allows to obtain the quantum wavefunction while locally approaching the best pre-divergent semiclassical expansion. An iterative procedure allowing to implement prac…
Quantum Space-Time and Phase Space with fuzzy geometric structure are studied as possible formalism for quantization of massive particles and fields. In this approach the state of nonrelativistic particle m described by the fuzzy point of fuzzy (weakly) ordered Manifold X. Due to m partial ordering in X m coordinate x principal uncertainty is generic in this ansatz. It's shown that in 1+1 dimension such Fuzzy Mechanics (FM) is equivalent to Path Integral formalism of Quantum Mechanics (QM).
The quantum space-time and the phase space with fuzzy structure is investigated as the possible quantization formalism. In this theory the state of nonrelativistic particle corresponds to the element of fuzzy ordered set (Foset) - fuzzy point. Due to Foset partial (weak) ordering, particle's space coordinate x acquires principal uncertainty dx. It's shown that Shroedinger formalism of Quantum Mechanics can be completely derived from consideration of particle evolution in fuzzy phase space with minimal number of axioms.
Quantization of $R^2$ and $S^1 \times S^1$ phase spaces are explicitly carried out tweaking the techniques of geometric quantization. Crucial is a combined use of left and right invariant vector fields. Canonical bases, operators and their actions are explicitly presented. Arguments of Dirac and also Wu and Yang for monopoles are applied for obtaining the quantization of the phase space area. Equivalence of states in the infinite dimensional prequantum Hilbert space resulting in a physical Hilbert space of dimension equal to the phase space area in units of the Planck constant is demonstrated.…
We addressed quantization phenomena in transport and vortex/precession-motion of low-dimensional systems, stationary quantization of confined motion in phase space due to oscillatory dynamics or compacti fication of space and time for steady-state systems (e.g., particle in a box or torus, Brillouin zone, and Matsubara time zone or Matsubara quantized frequencies), and the quantization of sources. We discuss how the self-consistent Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization condition permeates the relationships between the quantization of integer Hall effect, fractional quantum Hall effect, the Berezenskii-…
We investigate symmetric oscillators, and in particular their quantization, by employing semiclassical and quantum phase functions introduced in the context of Liouville-Green transformations of the Schrödinger equation. For anharmonic oscillators, first order semiclassical quantization is seldom accurate and the higher order expansions eventually break down given the asymptotic nature of the series. A quantum phase that allows in principle to retrieve the exact quantum mechanical quantization condition and wavefunctions is given along with an iterative scheme to compute it. The arbitrariness …
A generalized Weyl quantization formalism for a particle on the circle investigated in \cite{1} is developed. A Wigner function for the state $\hat{\varrho}$ and the kernel $\mathcal{K}$ for a particle on the circle is defined and its properties are analyzed. Then it is shown how this Wigner function can be easily modified to give the number-phase Wigner function in quantum optics. Some examples of such number-phase Wigner function are considered.
The Weyl quantization of classical observables on the torus (as phase space) without regularity assumptions is explicitly computed. The equivalence class of symbols yielding the same Weyl operator is characterized. The Heisenberg equation for the dynamics of general quantum observables is written through the Moyal brackets on the torus and the support of the Wigner transform is characterized. Finally, a dequantization procedure is introduced that applies, for instance, to the Pauli matrices. As a result we obtain the corresponding classical symbols.
Introduction to the "second quantization" formalism for non-relativistic quantum mechanics: A possible substitution for Sections 6.7 and 6.8 of Feynman's "Statistical Mechanics"
Canonical quantization may be approached from several different starting points. The usual approaches involve promotion of c-numbers to q-numbers, or path integral constructs, each of which generally succeeds only in Cartesian coordinates. All quantization schemes that lead to Hilbert space vectors and Weyl operators---even those that eschew Cartesian coordinates---implicitly contain a metric on a flat phase space. This feature is demonstrated by studying the classical and quantum ``aggregations'', namely, the set of all facts and properties resident in all classical and quantum theories, resp…
A theory of nonunitary-invertible as well as unitary canonical transformations is formulated in the context of Weyl's phase space representations. Exact solutions of the transformation kernels and the phase space propagators are given for the three fundamental canonical maps as fractional-linear, gauge and contact (point) transformations. Under the nonlinear maps a phase space representation is mapped to another phase space representation thereby extending the standard concept of covariance. This extended covariance allows Dirac-Jordan transformation theory to naturally emerge from the Hilbert…
