Quantum Mechanics in Curved Configuration Space

Different approaches are compared to formulation of quantum mechanics of a particle on the curved spaces. At first, the canonical, quasiclassical, and path integration formalisms are considered for quantization of geodesic motion on the Riemannian configuration spaces. A unique rule of ordering of operators in the canonical formalism and a unique definition of the path integral are established and, thus, a part of ambiguities in the quantum counterpart of geodesic motion is removed. A geometric interpretation is proposed for noninvariance of the quantum mechanics on coordinate transformations. An approach alternative to the quantization of geodesic motion is surveyed, which starts with the quantum theory of a neutral scalar field. Consequences of this alternative approach and the three formalisms of quantization are compared. In particular, the field theoretical approach generates a deformation of the canonical commutation relations between operators of coordinates and momenta of a particle. A cosmological consequence of the deformation is presented in short.     

Time Dependent Coordinate Transformations

The general formalism of time-dependent canonical transformations is applied to the case of coordinate transformations in classical and quantum mechanics.     

Finding the Hamiltonian for Cosmological Models in Fourth-Order Gravity Theories Without Resorting to the Ostrogradski or Dirac Formalism

The Hamilton formalism of cosmological models in fourth-order theories of gravity is considered. An approach to constructing the Hamilton function is presented which starts by replacing the second order derivatives of configuration space coordinates by functions depending on these coordinates, its first order derivatives, and additional variables playing the role of configuration space coordinates. This formalism, which does not resort to the Ostrogradski or Dirac formalism, is elucidated and applied to examples. For a special class of Lagrange functions, it is demonstrated that the canonical coordinates of the considered formalism and of the Ostrogradski formalism are related via a canonical transformation. The canonical transformation is a transformation of the configuration space coordinates and a transformation of momentum components induced by the transformation of the configuration space coordinates for a special element of the class of Lagrange functions mentioned. The Wheeler-DeWitt equations belonging to this Lagrange function are related via minisuperspace coordinate transformations.     

General transformation theory of Lagrangian mechanics and the Lagrange group

The general transformation theory of Lagrangian mechanics is revisited from a group-theoretic point of view. After considering the transformation of the Lagrangian function under local coordinate transformations in configuration spacetime, the general covariance of the formalism of Lagrange is discussed. Next, the group of Lagrange (for alln-dimensional Lagrangian systems) is introduced, and some important features of this group, as well as of its action on the set of Lagrangians, are briefly examined. Only finite local transformations of coordinates are considered here, and no variational transformation of the action is required in this study. Some miscellaneous examples of the formalism are included.     

Quantum mechanics of 4-derivative theories

A renormalizable theory of gravity is obtained if the dimension-less 4-derivative kinetic term of the graviton, which classically suffers from negative unbounded energy, admits a sensible quantization. We find that a 4-derivative degree of freedom involves a canonical coordinate with unusual time-inversion parity, and that a correspondingly unusual representation must be employed for the relative quantum operator. The resulting theory has positive energy eigenvalues, normalizable wavefunctions, unitary evolution in a negative-norm configuration space. We present a formalism for quantum mechanics with a generic norm.     

On foundation of quantum physics

Some aspects of the interpretation of quantum theory are discussed. It is emphasized that quantum theory is formulated in the Cartesian coordinate system; in other coordinates the result obtained with the help of the Hamiltonian formalism and commutator relations between “canonically conjugated” coordinate and momentum operators leads to a wrong version of quantum mechanics. The origin of time is analyzed by the example of atomic collision theory in detail; it is shown that the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is meaningless since in the high-impact-energy limit it transforms into an equation with two time-like variables. Following the Einstein-Rozen-Podolsky experiment and Bell’s inequality, the wave function is interpreted as an actual field of information in the elementary form. The concept “measurement” is also discussed.     

p-adic quantum mechanics

An extension of the formalism of quantum mechanics to the case where the canonical variables are valued in a field ofp-adic numbers is considered. In particular the free particle and the harmonic oscillator are considered. In classicalp-adic mechanics we consider time as ap-adic variable and coordinates and momentum orp-adic or real. For the case ofp-adic coordinates and momentum quantum mechanics with complex amplitudes is constructed. It is shown that the Weyl representation is an adequate formulation in this case. For harmonic oscillator the evolution operator is constructed in an explicit form. For primesp of the form 4l+1 generalized vacuum states are constructed. The spectra of the evolution operator have been investigated. Thep-adic quantum mechanics is also formulated by means of probability measures over the space of generalized functions. This theory obeys an unusual property: the propagator of a massive particle has power decay at infinity, but no exponential one.     

Foundations of the quantum statistics of systems in equilibrium: A measuretheoretic approach

The fundamental equations of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics are derived in the context of a measure-theoretic approach to the quantum mechanical ergodic problem. The method employed is an extension, to quantum mechanical systems, of the techniques developed by R. M. Lewis for establishing the foundations of classical statistical mechanics. The existence of a complete set of commuting observables is assumed, but no reference is made a priori to probability or statistical ensembles. Expressions for infinite-time averages in the microcanonical, canonical, and grand canonical ensembles are developed which reduce to conventional quantum statistical mechanics for systems in equilibrium when the total energy is the only conserved quantity. No attempt is made to extend the formalism at this time to deal with the difficult problem of the approach to equilibrium.     

Phase-space path integration of the relativistic particle equations

Hamilton-Jacobi theory is applied to find appropriate canonical transformations for the calculation of the phase-space path integrals of the relativistic particle equations. Hence, canonical transformations and Hamilton-Jacobi theory are also introduced into relativistic quantum mechanics. Moreover, from the classical physics viewpoint, it is very interesting to find and to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi equations for the relativistic particle equations.     

Some topological issues for ferromagnets and fluids

We analyze the canonical structure of a continuum model of ferromagnets and clarify known difficulties in defining a momentum density. The moments of the momentum density corresponding to volume-preserving coordinate transformations can be defined, but a nonsingular definition of the other moments requires an enlargement of the phase space which illuminates a close relation to fluid mechanics. We also discuss the nontrivial connectivity of the phase space for two and three dimensions and show how this feature can be incorporated in the quantum theory, working out the two-dimensional case in some detail.     

Quantum Hamilton mechanics: Hamilton equations of quantum motion, origin of quantum operators, and proof of quantization axiom

This paper gives a thorough investigation on formulating and solving quantum problems by extended analytical mechanics that extends canonical variables to complex domain. With this complex extension, we show that quantum mechanics becomes a part of analytical mechanics and hence can be treated integrally with classical mechanics. Complex canonical variables are governed by Hamilton equations of motion, which can be derived naturally from Schrödinger equation. Using complex canonical variables, a formal proof of the quantization axiom p → pˆ = −i, which is the kernel in constructing quantum-mechanical systems, becomes a one-line corollary of Hamilton mechanics. The derivation of quantum operators from Hamilton mechanics is coordinate independent and thus allows us to derive quantum operators directly under any coordinate system without transforming back to Cartesian coordinates. Besides deriving quantum operators, we also show that the various prominent quantum effects, such as quantization, tunneling, atomic shell structure, Aharonov–Bohm effect, and spin, all have the root in Hamilton mechanics and can be described entirely by Hamilton equations of motion.     

Electromagnetic and Force Field Equations

In classical physics the electromagnetic equations are described by Maxwell's equations. Maxwell's equations proved to be invariant under gauge, or Lorentz transformations. Also, Einstein's equations of the special theory of relativity are invariant under Lorentz transformations. On the other hand classical mechanics and quantum mechanics laws are invariant under Galilean transformations. This means that, there are two different dynamical structures describing our universe. Einstein's unified field theory failled in putting our universe in one dynamical structure. New electromagnetic and force field equations are going to be derived. They have the same shape like Maxwell's equations, but with different dynamical structure. Those equations are invariant under Galilean transformations and in the density matrix formalism of quantum mechanics.     

Relativistic quantum mechanics of supersymmetric particles

The quantum mechanics of an electron in an external field is developed by Hamiltonian path integral methods. The electron is described classically by an action which is invariant under gauge supersymmetry transformations as well as worldline reparametrizations. The simpler case of a spinless particle is first reviewed and it is pointed out that a strictly canonical approach does not exist. This follows formally from the gauge invariance properties of the action and physically it corresponds to the fact that particles can travel backwards as well as forward in coordinate time. However, appropriate application of path integral techniques yields directly the proper time representation of the Feynman propagator. Next we extend the formalism to systems described by anticommuting variables. This problem presents some difficulty when the dimension of the phase space is odd, because the holomorphic representation does not exist. It is shown, however, that the usual connection between the evolution operator and the path integral still holds provided one indludes in the action the boundary term that makes the classical variational principle well defined. The path integral for the relativistic spinning particle is then evaluated and it is shown to lead directly to a representation for the Feynman propagator in terms of two proper times, one commuting, the other anticommuting, which appear in a symmetric manner. This representation is used to derive scattering amplitudes in an external field. In this step the anticommuting proper time is integrated away and the analysis is carried in terms of one (commuting) proper time only, just as in the spinless case. Finally, some properties of the quantum mechanics of the ghost particles that appear in the path integral for constrained systems are developed in an appendix.     

Generalization of Nambu's mechanics

We look for a generalization of the mechanics of Hamilton and Nambu. We have found the equations of motion of a classical physical system ofS basic dynamic variables characterized byS – 1 constants of motion and by a function of the dynamical variables and the time whose value also remains constant during the evolution of the system. The numberS may be even or odd. We find that any locally invertible transformations are canonical transformations. We show that the equations of motion obtained can be put in a form similar to Nambu's equations by means of a time transformation. We study the relationship of the present formalism to Hamiltonian mechanics and consider an extension of the formalism to field theory.     

Strings, world-sheet covariant quantization and Bohmian mechanics

The covariant canonical method of quantization based on the De Donder–Weyl covariant canonical formalism is used to formulate a world-sheet covariant quantization of bosonic strings. To provide the consistency with the standard non-covariant canonical quantization, it is necessary to adopt a Bohmian deterministic hidden-variable equation of motion. In this way, string theory suggests a solution to the problem of measurement in quantum mechanics. PACS 11.25.-w; 04.60.Ds; 03.65.Ta     

Renormalization of the post-Gaussian effective potential

In order to study the effects of renormalization on the variationally calculated φ⁴ effective potential, we employ the Gaussian-effective-potential formalism, nonlinear canonical transformations, and the loop approximation. A quantitative comparison of physically equivalent potentials is carried out in two dimensions. The renormalization procedure in three dimensions, leading after the nonlinear transformation to a manifestly finite energy expectation, is described. Different from finite-dimensional quantum mechanics, the optimization is meaningful only if all divergent sub-graphs generated by the ansatz are identified and renormalized by the bare parameters.     

On the quantum electrodynamics of moving bodies

A new synthesis of the principles of relativity and quantum mechanics is developed by replacing the Poincaré group for the de Sitter one. The new relativistic quantum mechanics is an indefinite-mass theory which is reduced to the standard theory on the mass shell. The charge conjugation acquires a geometrical meaning and the Stueckelberg interpretation for antiparticles naturally arises in the formalism. So the idea of the Dirac sea in the second-quantized formalism proves to be superfluous. The off-shell theory is free from ultraviolet divergences, which only appear in the process of mass-shell reduction.