Localizability and causal propagation in relativistic quantum mechanics

We show that, in a relativistic quantum theory in which the mass shell is not sharp, and positive and negative energy states are admissable, causal propagation is possible, and Hegerfeldt's theorem can be avoided. The conditions under which this is true have simple physical interpretation.1. On sabbatical leave from School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Ambrose Monell Foundation.     

Foundations of phase-space quantum mechanics

In the present paper a general concept of a phase-space representation of the ordinary Hilbert-space quantum theory is formulated, and then, by using some elementary facts of functional analysis, several equivalent forms of that concept are analyzed. Several important physical examples are presented in Section 3 of the paper.Supported by the NSERC research grant No. A5206.On leave of absence from the Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.     

A new approach to relativistic multi-configuration quantum mechanics in titanium

Multiply-ionized atoms in plasmas and astronomical systems are predominantly of intermediate atomic numbers with open electron shells. The spectra seen in laboratory plasmas and astrophysical plasmas are dominated by characteristic Kα1,2 photoemission lines. Modelling these transitions requires advanced relativistic frameworks to begin to formulate solutions. We present a new approach to relativistic multi-configuration determination of Kα1,2 diagram and satellite energies in titanium to a high level of convergence, allowing accurate fitting of satellite contributions and the first agreement with profile to negligible residuals. These developments also apply to exciting frontiers including temporal variation of fundamental constants, theoretical chemistry and laboratory astrophysics.     

Amplitude phase-space model for quantum mechanics

We show that there is a close relationship between quantum mechanics and ordinary probability theory. The main difference is that in quantum mechanics the probability is computed in terms of an amplitude function, while in probability theory a probability distribution is used. Applying this idea, we then construct an amplitude model for quantum mechanics on phase space. In this model, states are represented by amplitude functions and observables are represented by functions on phase space. If we now postulate a conjugation condition, the model provides the same predictions as conventional quantum mechanics. In particular, we obtain the usual quantum marginal probabilities, conditional probabilities and expectations. The commutation relations and uncertainty principle also follow. Moreover Schrödinger's equation is shown to be an averaged version of Hamilton's equation in classical mechanics.     

Feynman's approach to quantum mechanics: Trajectories,commutation relations and uncertainty principle

Summary In this paper the meaning of trajectory for a quantum-mechanical particle is discussed, starting from the path integral expression of the propagator. By a direct method the trajectories mostly contributing to the total amplitude are found, but it seems impossible to interpret them as paths in the physical space-time; on the contrary, the position-momentum commutation relations directly follow. Moreover, we show that the Heisenberg uncertaint principle can be obtained from the path integral approach. In order to give a better understanding of the characteristic quantum-mechanical features and of the difference from the classical problems, the diffusion equation for a Brownian particle is considered in the first part of the paper. To speed up publication, the authors have agreed not to receive proofs which have been supervised by the Scientific Committee.     

Maximally causal quantum mechanics

We present a new causal quantum mechanics in one and two dimensions developed recently at TIFR by this author and V Singh. In this theory both position and momentum for a system point have Hamiltonian evolution in such a way that the ensemble of system points leads to position and momentum probability densities agreeing exactly with ordinary quantum mechanics     

Finite-dimensional relativistic quantum mechanics

A finite-dimensional relativistic quantum mechanics is developed by first quantizing Minkowski space. Two-dimensional space-time event observables are defined and quantum microscopic causality is studied. Three-dimensional colored even observables are introduced and second quantized on a representation space of the restricted Poincaré group. Creation, annihilation, and field operators are introduced and a finite-dimensional Dirac theory is presented.     

Current density in relativistic quantum mechanics

We extend to relativistic theories the concepts of probability density and probability current density of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, together with the charge and current densities that are used as sources of the electromagnetic field in the semi-classical theory of radiation. There are some limitations in the procedure, especially in the case of several particles.     

On path integrals and relativistic quantum mechanics

A proposal for formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics in terms of path integrals is presented.We are deeply indebted to Dr. M.Petrá for many stimulating discussions.     

Advances in relativistic molecular quantum mechanics

A quantum mechanical equation HΨ=EΨ$H\Psi =E\Psi$ is composed of three components, viz., Hamiltonian H$H$, wave function Ψ$\Psi$, and property E(λ)$E\left(\lambda \right)$, each of which is confronted with fundamental issues in the relativistic regime, e.g., (1) What is the most appropriate relativistic many-body Hamiltonian? How to solve the resulting equation? (2) How does the relativistic wave function behave at the coalescence of two electrons? How to do relativistic explicit correlation? (3) How to formulate relativistic properties properly?, to name just a few. It is shown here that the charge-conjugated contraction of Fermion operators, dictated by the charge conjugation symmetry, allows for a bottom-up construction of a relativistic Hamiltonian that is in line with the principles of quantum electrodynamics (QED). Various approximate but accurate forms of the Hamiltonian can be obtained based entirely on physical arguments. In particular, the exact two-component Hamiltonians can be formulated in a general way to cast electric and magnetic fields, as well as electron self-energy and vacuum polarization, into a unified framework. While such algebraic two-component Hamiltonians are incompatible with explicit correlation, four-component relativistic explicitly correlated approaches can indeed be made fully parallel to the nonrelativistic counterparts by virtue of the ‘extended no-pair projection’ and the coalescence conditions. These findings open up new avenues for future developments of relativistic molecular quantum mechanics. In particular, ‘molecular QED’ will soon become an active and exciting field.     

Dirac's aether in relativistic quantum mechanics

The introduction by Dirac of a new aether model based on a stochastic covariant distribution of subquantum motions (corresponding to a vacuum state alive with fluctuations and randomness) is discussed with respect to the present experimental and theoretical discussion of nonlocality in EPR situations. It is shown (1) that one can deduce the de Broglie waves as real collective Markov processes on the top of Dirac's aether; (2) that the quantum potential associated with this aether's modification, by the presence of EPR photon pairs, yields a relativistic causal action at a distance which interprets the superluminal correlations recently established by Aspect et al.; (3) that the existence of the Einstein-de Broglie photon model (deduced from Dirac's aether) implies experimental predictions which conflict with the Copenhagen interpretation in certain specific testable interference experiments.     

Stochastic microcausality in relativistic quantum mechanics

A recently formulated concept of stochastic localizability is shown to be consistent with a concept of stochastic microcausality, which avoids the conclusions of Hegerfeldt's no-go theorem as to the inconsistency of sharp localizability of quantum particles and Einstein causality. The proposed localizability on quantum space-time is shown to lead to strict asymptotic causality. For finite time evolutions, upper bounds on propagation to the exterior of stochastic light cones are derived which show that the resulting probabilities are too small to be actually observable in a realistic context.Supported by an NSERC Fellowship.Suported in part by NSERC research grant No. A5206.     

On the quantum logic approach to quantum mechanics

A quantum logic structure for quantum mechanics which contains the concepts of a physical space, localizability, and symmetry groups is formulated. It is shown that there is an underlying Hilbert space which mirrors much of this axiomatic structure. Quantum fields are defined and shown to arise naturally from the quantum logic structure. The fields ofHaag andWightman are generalized to this theory and an attempt is made to find a local equivalence for these fields.     

Cosmology and the causal interpretation of quantum mechanics

We answer the objections raised recently by Tipler to the trajectory interpretation of quantum mechanics by analyzing in detail the scattering of a particle from a semi-transparent surface. We conclude that the notion of the “wavefunction of the universe” poses no particular problems for this interpretation.     

Contractions of space-time groups and relativistic quantum mechanics

The relation of the conformal group to various earlier proposed relativistic quantum mechanical dynamical groups (and other related groups) is studied in the framework of projective geometry, by explicitly constructing the contractions of the six-dimensional coordinate transformations. Five-dimensional realizations are then derived. An attempt is made to improve our physical insight through geometry.     

A statistical approach to quantum mechanics

A Monte Carlo method is used to evaluate the Euclidean version of Feynman's sum over particle histories. Following Feynman's treatment, individual paths are defined on a discrete (imaginary) time lattice with periodic boundary conditions. On each lattice site, a continuous position variable x_i specifies the spacial location of the particle. Using a modified Metropolis algorithm, the low-lying energy eigenvalues, |ψ₀(x)|², the propagator, and the effective potential for the anharmonic oscillator are computed, in good agreement with theory. For a deep double-well potential, instantons were found in our computer simulations appearing as multi-kink configurations on the lattice.     

Gibbs ensembles in relativistic classical and quantum mechanics

Classical and quantum Gibbs ensembles are constructed for equilibrium statistical mechanics in the framework of an extension to many-body theory of a relativistic mechanics proposed by Stueckelberg. In addition to the usual chemical potential in the grand canonical ensemble, there is a new potential corresponding to the mass degree of freedom of relativistic systems. It is shown that in the nonrelativistic limit the relativistic ensembles we have obtained reduce to the usual ones, and mass fluctuations for the free-particle gas approach the fluctuations in N. The ultrarelativistic limit of the canonical ensemble for the free-particle gas differs from the corresponding limit of the ensemble proposed by Jüttner and Pauli. Due to the mass degree of freedom, the quantum counting of states is different from that of the nonrelativistic theory. If the mass distribution is sufficiently sharp, the thermodynamical effects of this multiplicity will not be large. There may, however, be detectable effects such as a shift in the Fermi level and the critical temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation, and some change in specific heats.