Eikonal approximation to 5D wave equations as geodesic motion in a curved 4D spacetime

We first derive the relation between the eikonal approximation to the Maxwell wave equations in an inhomogeneous anisotropic medium and geodesic motion in a three dimensional Riemannian manifold using a method which identifies the symplectic structure of the corresponding mechanics. We then apply an analogous method to the five dimensional generalization of Maxwell theory required by the gauge invariance of Stueckelbergs covariant classical and quantum dynamics to demonstrate, in the eikonal approximation, the existence of geodesic motion for the flow of mass in a four dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold. No motion of the medium is required. These results provide a foundation for the geometrical optics of the five dimensional radiation theory and establish a model in which there is mass flow along geodesics. Finally, we discuss the interesting case of relativistic quantum theory in an anisotropic medium as well. In this case the eikonal approximation to the relativistic quantum mechanical current coincides with the geodesic flow governed by the pseudo-Riemannian metric obtained from the eikonal approximation to solutions of the Stueckelberg-Schrödinger equation. This construction provides a model for an underlying quantum mechanical structure for classical dynamical motion along geodesics on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold. The locally symplectic structure which emerges is that of Stueckelbergs covariant mechanics on this manifold.This revised version was published online in April 2005. The publishing date was inserted.     

Relativistic quantum theory of cyclotron resonance in a medium

The relativistic quantum theory of cyclotron resonance in a medium with arbitrary dispersive properties is presented. The quantum equation of motion for a charged particle in the field of a plane electromagnetic wave and in the uniform magnetic field in a medium is solved in the eikonal approximation. The probabilities of induced multiphoton transitions between the Landau levels in a strong laser field are calculated.     

Particles and events in classical off-shell electrodynamics

Despite the many successes of the relativistic quantum theory developed by Horwitz et al., certain difficulties persist in the associated covariant classical mechanics. In this paper, we explore these difficulties through an examination of the classical. Coulomb problem in the framework of off-shell electrodynamics. As the local gauge theory of a covariant quantum mechanics with evolution paratmeter τ, off-shell electrodynamics constitutes a dynamical theory of ppacetime events, interacting through five τ-dependent pre-Maxwell potentials. We present a straightforward solution of the classical equations of motion, for a test event traversing the field induced by a “fixed” event (an event moving uniformly along the time axis at a fixed point in space). This solution is seen to be unsatisfactory, and reveals the essential difficulties in the formalism at the classical levels. We then offer a new model of the particle current—as a certain distribution of the event currents on the worldline—which eliminates these difficulties and permits comparison of classisical off-shell electrodynamics with the standard Maxwell theory. In this model, the “fixed” event induces a Yukawa-type potential, permitting a semiclassical identification of the pre-Maxwell time scale λ with the inverse mass of the intervening photon. Numerical solutions to the equations of motion are compared with the standard Maxwell solutions, and are seen to coincide when λ≳10⁻⁶ seconds, providing an initial estimate of this parameter. It is also demonstrated that the proposed model provides a natural interpretation for the photon mass cut-off required for the renormalizability of the off-shell quantum electrodynamics.     

Covariant description of Hamiltonian form for field dynamics

Hamiltonian form of field dynamics is developed on a space-like hypersurface in space-time. A covariant Poisson bracket on the space-like hypersurface is defined and it plays a key role to describe every algebraic relation into a covariant form. It is shown that the Poisson bracket has the same symplectic structure that was brought in the covariant symplectic approach. An identity invariant under the canonical transformations is obtained. The identity follows a canonical equation in which the interaction Hamiltonian density generates a deformation of the space-like hypersurface. The equation just corresponds to the Yang-Feldman equation in the Heisenberg pictures in quantum field theory. By converting the covariant Poisson bracket on the space-like hypersurface to four-dimensional commutator, we can pass over to quantum field theory in the Heisenberg picture without spoiling the explicit relativistic covariance. As an example the canonical QCD is displayed in a covariant way on a space-like hypersurface.     

Geometric Quantization of Relativistic Hamiltonian Mechanics

A relativistic Hamiltonian mechanical system is seen as a conservative Dirac constraint system on the cotangent bundle of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold. We provide geometric quantization of this cotangent bundle where the quantum constraint serves as a relativistic quantum equation.     

On the definition and evolution of states in relativistic classical and quantum mechanics

Some of the problems associated with the construction of a manifestly covariant relativistic quantum theory are discussed. A resolution of this problem is given in terms of the off mass shell classical and quantum mechanics of Stueckelberg, Horwitz and Piron. This theory contains many questions of interpretation, reaching deeply into the notions of time, localizability and causality. A proper generalization of the Maxwell theory of electromagnetic interaction, required for the well-posed formulation of dynamical problems of systems with electromagnetic interaction is discussed, and some of the significance of recently found (classical) relativistic chaotic behavior is pointed out. Many results of a technical nature have been achieved in this framework; in this paper, some of these are reviewed, but I shall concentrate on a discussion of the basic ideas and foundations of the theory.On sabbatical leave from School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.     

Mass Spectrum of Mesons and Their Leptonic Decay Widths within the Relativistic Quasipotential Approach

New relativistic semiclassical conditions and leptonic decay widths are obtained within quantum chromodynamics for nonsingular confining quasipotentials and funnel-type potentials (instantoninteraction approximation). The respective analysis is performed within a fully covariant quasipotential approach in quantum field theory. This approach is formulated in the relativistic configuration representation for the case of interaction between two relativistic spinless particles of arbitrary mass.     

Vertex calculation for a composite particle

The classical treatment and the quantization of composite relativistic systems is given a manifestly covariant formulation in presence of constraints. A particular formulation of Feynman's quantum mechanics is used to treat the scattering of composite relativistic systems. A covariant harmonic oscillator model is employed to calculate vertices of interactions: the results are similar to the corresponding ones in the usual field theories, but the presence of some convergence factors gives hope that a theory with composite particles may be finite.     

An eikonal perturbation theory having applications in hadron dynamics,I: Genesis

We develop a Lagrangian field-theoretic laboratory where one can rigorously investigate ideas and problems in high-energy hadronic interactions. In this paper (the first of a series) the general field-theoretic framework is outlined in the oversimplified model of a scalar-scalar Yukawa interaction. Functional methods are used to cast all Green's functions in an “operator eikonal” form. The eikonal approximations (EA's) in Lagrangian relativistic quantum mechanics are reviewed and discussed. We then derive an exact eikonal equation in quantum field theory. The perturbation theoretic solution of this equation leads to a new kind of eikonal perturbation theory (EPT) which generalizes simultaneously the EA's as well as the ordinary perturbation theory (OPT). Some salient features of Green's functions in the EPT are as follows: (i) the lowest-order EPT amplitudes correspond to a kind of semiclassical approximation; (ii) the lowest-order four-point amplitudes contain the high-energy part of the full radiatively corrected crossed ladder series, without vacuum polarization effects; (iii) for spin-one gluons, the latter amplitude develops diffractive behavior in the direct channel and, for spin-one and spin-zero gluons, Regge behavior in the crossed channel; (iv) for vanishing gluon mass, this amplitude develops poles, in the direct channel, corresponding to a positronium-like bound-state spectrum. Properties (i)–(iv) are generalized to EPT from EA's and are absent in OPT. Unlike in the case of EA's we also have that (v) the EPT is a quantum field theory, which properly includes selfinteraction effects; (vi) the EPT is an iterative perturbation theoretic scheme, which shares with OPT the properties of renormalizability.     

Quantum mechanics as relativistic statistics. I: The two-particle case

It is shown that non-relativistic quantum mechanics can be treated as a kind of relativistic statistical theory, which describes the indeterministic motion of classical particles. The theory is relativistic in the sense that the relativistic notion of the state and two-time equations of motion are used. The principles and relations of quantum mechanics are obtained from the principles of statistics and those of classical mechanics.     

A universal spinor bundle and the Einstein–Dirac–Maxwell equation as a variational theory

Not only the Dirac operator, but also the spinor bundle of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold depends on the underlying metric. This leads to technical difficulties in the study of problems where many metrics are involved, for instance in variational theory. We construct a natural finite dimensional bundle, from which all the metric spinor bundles can be recovered including their extra structure. In the Lorentzian case, we also give some applications to Einstein–Dirac–Maxwell theory as a variational theory and show how to coherently define a maximal Cauchy development for this theory.     

Hamilton's principle,covariant Hamiltonian,and canonical formalism in four and five dimensions

A discussion of the 1950s and 1960s on the existence of an explicit covariant canonical formalism is renewed. A new point of view is introduced where Hamilton's principle, based on the existence of a Hamiltonian, is postulated independently from the Lagrange formalism. The Hamiltonian is determined by transformation properties and dimensional considerations. The variation of the action without constraints leads to an explicit covariant canonical formalism and correct equations of motion. The introduction of the charge as a fifth momentum gives rise to a reformulation of classical relativistic point mechanics as a five-dimensionalU(1) gauge theory with a theoretically invisible extra dimension. A generalization to other gauge groups is given. The inversion of the proper time is introduced as a new particle-antiparticle symmetry that allows one to show that in the five-dimensional classical theory all particles have positive energy.     

The Conformal Metric Associated with the U(1) Gauge of the Stueckelberg–Schrödinger Equation

We review the relativistic classical and quantum mechanics of Stueckelberg, and introduce the compensation fields necessary for the gauge covariance of the Stueckelbert–Schrödinger equation. To achieve this, one must introduce a fifth, Lorentz scalar, compensation field, in addition to the four vector fields with compensate the action of the space-time derivatives. A generalized Lorentz force can be derived from the classical Hamilton equations associated with this evolution function. We show that the fifth (scalar) field can be eliminated through the introduction of a conformal metric on the spacetime manifold. The geodesic equation associated with this metric coincides with the Lorentz force, and is therefore dynamically equivalent. Since the generalized Maxwell equations for the five dimensional fields provide an equation relating the fifth field with the spacetime density of events, one can derive the spacetime event density associated with the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker solution of the Einstein equations. The resulting density, in the conformal coordinate space, is isotropic and homogeneous, decreasing as the square of the Robertson–Walker scale factor. Using the Einstein equations, one see that both for the static and matter dominated models, the conformal time slice in which the events which generate the world lines are contained becomes progressively thinner as the inverse square of the scale factor, establishing a simple correspondence between the configurations predicted by the underlying Friedmann–Robertson–Walker dynamical model and the configurations in the conformal coordinates.     

On the eikonal approximation in the theory of transition radiation

The transition radiation of relativistic electrons in nonuniform media is considered. Based on the equivalent photon method and the eikonal approximation in wave mechanics, a method for describing this process is proposed. For the case in which the permittivity depends on several coordinates, equations for the spectral-angular density of transition radiation are obtained. The main results obtained in the Born and eikonal approximations of the theory of transition radiation are compared. The equations obtained are used to analyze the transition radiation process for a fiberlike target.     

On the pre‐metric foundations of wave mechanics I: massless waves

The mechanics of wave motion in a medium are founded in conservation laws for the physical quantities that the waves carry, combined with the constitutive laws of the medium, and define Lorentzian structures only in degenerate cases of the dispersion laws that follow from the field equations. It is suggested that the transition from wave motion to point motion is best factored into an intermediate step of extended matter motion, which then makes the dimension‐codimension duality of waves and trajectories a natural consequence of the bicharacteristic (geodesic) foliation associated with the dispersion law. This process is illustrated in the conventional case of quadratic dispersion laws, as well as quartic ones, which include the Heisenberg–Euler dispersion law. It is suggested that the contributions to geodesic motion from the non‐quadratic nature of a dispersion law might represent another source of quantum fluctuations about classical extremals, in addition to the diffraction effects that are left out by the geometrical optics approximation.     

Geometrization of quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is cast into a classical Hamiltonian form in terms of a symplectic structure, not on the Hilbert space of state-vectors but on the more physically relevant infinite-dimensional manifold of instantaneous pure states. This geometrical structure can accommodate generalizations of quantum mechanics, including the nonlinear relativistic models recently proposed. It is shown that any such generalization satisfying a few physically reasonable conditions would reduce to ordinary quantum mechanics for states that are near the vacuum. In particular the origin of complex structure is described.     

A kinetic theory of a relativistic plasma. II

A covariant formulation of the relativistic statistical mechanics of charged particles is developed on the basis of the tetradic method, which corresponds to the super-many-time formalism of Tomonaga known in quantum theory.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 29–31, May, 1981.     

Lorentz Invariant Berry Phase for a Perturbed Relativistic Four Dimensional Harmonic Oscillator

We show the existence of Lorentz invariant Berry phases generated, in the Stueckelberg–Horwitz–Piron manifestly covariant quantum theory (SHP), by a perturbed four dimensional harmonic oscillator. These phases are associated with a fractional perturbation of the azimuthal symmetry of the oscillator. They are computed numerically by using time independent perturbation theory and the definition of the Berry phase generalized to the framework of SHP relativistic quantum theory.