The classical limit for quantum mechanical correlation functions

For quantum systems of finitely many particles as well as for boson quantum field theories, the classical limit of the expectation values of products of Weyl operators, translated in time by the quantum mechanical Hamiltonian and taken in coherent states centered inx- andp-space around? ^?1/2 (coordinates of a point in classical phase space) are shown to become the exponentials of coordinate functions of the classical orbit in phase space. In the same sense,? ^?1/2 [(quantum operator) (t) — (classical function) (t)] converges to the solution of the linear quantum mechanical system, which is obtained by linearizing the non-linear Heisenberg equations of motion around the classical orbit.     

ABCD rule for Gaussian beam propagation in the context of quantum optics derived by the IWOP technique

The development of technique of integration within an ordered product (IWOP) of operators extends the Newton-Leibniz integration rule, originally applying to permutable functions, to the non-commutative quantum mechanical operators composed of Dirac’s ket-bra, which enables us to obtain the images of directly mapping symplectic transformation in classical phase space parameterized by [A, B; C, D] into quantum mechanical operator through the coherent state representation, we call them the generalized Fresnel operators (GFO) since they correspond to Fresnel transforms in Fourier optics. Based on GFO we find the ABCD rule for Gaussian beam propagation in the context of quantum optics (both in one-mode and two-mode cases) whose classical correspondence is just the ABCD rule in matrix optics. The entangled state representation is used in discussing the two-mode case.     

Eine phasenraumdarstellung für spinsysteme

We start with the definition of two mapping operators, one of them is the projection operator onto coherent spin states. With the help of these operators we derive a mapping theorem which defines a correspondence between the operators in spin space andc-number functions of a certain class. It is shown that this correspondence is one-to-one. The quantum-mechanical expectation value of an operator is found to be expressible in the form of a phase space average of classical statistical mechanics. We also derive a product theorem which allows us to transcribe the equations of motion for operators into equivalent equations for thec-number functions. As an illustration of the theory, some examples are discussed.     

Geometric phases and coherent states

A cyclic evolution of a pure quantum state is characterized by a closed curve γ in the projective Hilbert space , equipped with the Fubini-Study geometry. It is known that the geometric phase for this evolution is given by the integral of the symplectic form of the Fubini-Study geometry over an arbitrary surface spanning γ. This result extends to an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space for a bosonic quantum field. We prove that is bounded above by the infimum area over all surfaces spanning γ, and that the bound is attained if γ can be spanned by a holomorphic curve. Using an earlier result concerning the intrinsic Euclidean geometry of the coherent state submanifold , we derive an expression for the geometric phase for a cyclic evolution amongst coherent states. We indicate how the intensity of a classical configuration can be inferred from the winding number of the exponential geometric phase about the origin in the complex plane. In the case of photon states we present group theoretic and 2-component spinor representations of . We derive an expression for in the case of a sequence of measurements such that the resulting states are coherent at each step, in terms of a sequence of projection operators. The situation in relation to some earlier experiments of Pancharatnam and Tomita–Chiao is explained.     

Canonical transformations to action and angle variables and their representation in quantum mechanics IV. Periodic potentials

In the previous papers of this series we discussed the representation in quantum mechanics of canonical transformations leading to action and angle variables, for Hamiltonians with bounded or unbounded orbits, i.e., whose spectra is either discrete, continuous, or mixed. In the present paper the results are extended to Hamiltonians with periodic potentials which have a band spectra. Again the canonical transformations are non-linear and non-bijective and the classical analysis shows that the angle variable φ (always in the interval 0≤φ≤2π) and action J can be defined for energies both below and above the maximum height of the potential. In all of the original phase space the variables (q, p) are then periodic functions of φ. Inversely, because of the invariance of the Hamiltonian under translations q → q + a, the (φ, J) are also periodic functions of q. thus to recover bijectiveness we require an infinite sheet structure in both the (q, p) and (φ, J) phase spaces. In turn the sheet structure can be replaced by appropriate ambiguity groups and spins, with the help of which we propose an explicit expression for the representation in quantum mechanics of the canonical transformation, and recover the latter when we pass to the classical limit with the help of the WKB approximation. The present analysis corroborates the previous surmise that the nature of the spectra of a quantum mechanical Hamiltonian, i.e., continuous, discrete, mixed, or of bands, is related to the ambiguity group and spin of the problem. As the latter originates in classical mechanics when we discuss the canonical transformations from (q, p) to (φ, J), we conclude that some quantum features, such as the nature of spectra of operators, are already implicit in the classical picture.     

Entropy increase for a class of dynamical maps

The dynamical evolution of a quantum system is described by a one parameter family of linear transformations of the space of self-adjoint trace class operators (on the Hilbert space of the system) into itself, which map statistical operators to statistical operators. We call such transformations dynamical maps. We give a sufficient condition for a dynamical map A not to decrease the entropy of a statistical operator. In the special case of an N-level system, this condition is also necessary and it is equivalent to the property that A preserves the central state.     

Polarization of light and topological phases

The phase shifts experienced by a polarized light wave when it propagates through media with arbitrary birefringence, dichroism and depolarizing properties, while on the one hand provide the basis for a variety of optical devices and experiments, on the other provide a powerful means of understanding unitary evolution, nonunitary evolution and decoherence of two-state quantum systems by virtue of a mathematical isomorphism of the two systems. These also help understand aspects of evolution of classical systems under the group of rotations in three-dimensional space, namely the SO(3) group, by virtue of its homomorphism with the group SU(2) governing unitary evolution of polarized light waves. In this review we present a survey and analysis of recent work on topological phases with polarization of light which has revealed several counterintuitive features of such phase shifts such as 2nπ anholonomies, nonlinear and discontinuous behaviour originating hi singularities, peculiar spectral dependence, etc. We point out several areas where these results may find practical application, for example endless phase correction in interferometric sensors, fast switching spatial light modulators, phase shifters with unusual chromatic properties, phasing of antenna arrays, etc. Several useful theoretical insights relevant to polarization optics, quantum mechanics, classical mechanics and other areas of physics, obtained from the work on polarization states are described and some directions for future work are indicated.     

Singularity Avoidance of Charged Black Holes in Loop Quantum Gravity

Based on spherically symmetric reduction of loop quantum gravity, quantization of the portion interior to the horizon of a Reissner-Nordström black hole is studied. Classical phase space variables of all regions of such a black hole are calculated for the physical case M ²>Q ². This calculation suggests a candidate for a classically unbounded function of which all divergent components of the curvature scalar are composed. The corresponding quantum operator is constructed and is shown explicitly to possess a bounded operator. Comparison of the obtained result with the one for the Schwarzschild case shows that the upper bound of the curvature operator of a charged black hole reduces to that of Schwarzschild at the limit Q→0. This local avoidance of singularity together with non-singular evolution equation indicates the role quantum geometry can play in treating classical singularity of such black holes.     

Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics in the general theory of relativity I. A general formalism

This is the first in a series of papers, the overall objective of which is the formulation of a new covariant approach to nonequilibrium statistical mechanics in classical general relativity. The object here is the development of a tractable theory for self-gravitating systems. It is argued that the “state” of an N-particle system may be characterized by an N-particle distribution function, defined in an 8N-dimensional phase space, which satisfies a collection of N conservation equations. by mapping the true physics onto a fictitious “background” spacetime, which may be chosen to satisfy some “average” field equations, one then obtains a useful covariant notion of “evolution” in response to a fluctuating “gravitational force.” For many cases of practical interest, one may suppose (i) that these fluctuating forces satisfy linear field equations and (ii) that they may be modeled by a direct interaction. In this case, one can use a relativistic projection operator formalism to derive exact closed equations for the evolution of such objects as an appropriately defined reduced one-particle distribution function. By capturing, in a natural way, the notion of a dilute gas, or impulse, approximation, one is then led to a comparatively simple equation for the one-particle distribution. If, furthermore, one treats the effects of the fluctuating forces as “localized” in space and time, one obtains a tractable kinetic equation which reduces, in the newtonian limit, to the standard Landau equation.     

Prequantum Classical Statistical Field Theory: Complex Representation, Hamilton-Schrödinger Equation, and Interpretation of Stationary States

We develop a prequantum classical statistical model in that the role of hidden variables is played by classical (vector) fields. We call this model Prequantum Classical Statistical Field Theory (PCSFT). The correspondence between classical and quantum quantities is asymptotic, so we call our approach asymptotic dequantization. We construct the complex representation of PCSFT. In particular, the conventional Schrödinger equation is obtained as the complex representation of the system of Hamilton equations on the infinite-dimensional phase space. In this note we pay the main attention to interpretation of so called pure quantum states (wave functions) in PCSFT, especially stationary states. We show, see Theorem 2, that pure states of QM can be considered as labels for Gaussian measures concentrated on one dimensional complex subspaces of phase space that are invariant with respect to the Schrödinger dynamics. “A quantum system in a stationary state ψ” in PCSFT is nothing else than a Gaussian ensemble of classical fields (fluctuations of the vacuum field of a very small magnitude) which is not changed in the process of Schrödinger's evolution. We interpret in this way the problem of stability of hydrogen atom. One of unexpected consequences of PCSFT is the infinite dimension of physical space on the prequantum scale.     

QCD2 and the classical correspondence in the large-N limit

It is shown that the large-N limit of quantum chromodynamics in twodimensions is determined by classical equations with boundary conditions. The nonperturbative quantum spectrum of mesonic bound states is obtained from a classical equation with a simple N-dependent boundary condition on the local charge density. The simplicity of the classical correspondence is shown to be directly tied to the simplicity of the space of gauge invariant operators of the theory. Implications for other large-N models are discussed.     

The Representation Theory of Decoherence Functionals in History Quantum Theories

In the first part of this paper the general perspective of history quantum theoriesis reviewed. History quantum theories provide a conceptual and mathematicalframework for formulating quantum theories without a globally definedHamiltonian time evolution and for introducing the concept of space-time eventinto quantum theory. On a mathematical level a history quantum theory ischaracterized by the space of histories, which represent the space-time events, andby the space of decoherence functionals, which represent the quantum mechanicalstates in the history approach. The second part of this paper is devoted to thestudy of the structure of the space of decoherence functionals for some physicallyreasonable spaces of histories in some detail. The temporal reformulation ofstandard Hamiltonian quantum theories suggests to consider the case that thespace of histories is given by (i) the lattice of projection operators on someHilbert space or, slightly more generally, (ii) the set of projection operators insome von Neumann algebra. In the case (i) the conditions are identified underwhich decoherence functionals can be represented by, respectively, trace classoperators, bounded operators, or families of trace class operators on the tensorproduct of the underlying Hilbert space by itself. Moreover, we discuss thenaturally arising representations of decoherence functionals as sesquilinear forms.The paper ends with a discussion of the consequences of the results for thegeneral axiomatic framework of history theories.     

Self-adjoint Operators as Functions I

Observables of a quantum system, described by self-adjoint operators in a von Neumann algebra or affiliated with it in the unbounded case, form a conditionally complete lattice when equipped with the spectral order. Using this order-theoretic structure, we develop a new perspective on quantum observables. In this first paper (of two), we show that self-adjoint operators affiliated with a von Neumann algebra ${\mathcal{N}}$ can equivalently be described as certain real-valued functions on the projection lattice ${\mathcal{P}(\mathcal{N}})$ of the algebra, which we call q-observable functions. Bounded self-adjoint operators correspond to q-observable functions with compact image on non-zero projections. These functions, originally defined in a similar form by de Groote (Observables II: quantum observables, 2005), are most naturally seen as adjoints (in the categorical sense) of spectral families. We show how they relate to the daseinisation mapping from the topos approach to quantum theory (Döring and Isham , New Structures for Physics, Springer, Heidelberg, 2011). Moreover, the q-observable functions form a conditionally complete lattice which is shown to be order-isomorphic to the lattice of self-adjoint operators with respect to the spectral order. In a subsequent paper (Döring and Dewitt, 2012, preprint), we will give an interpretation of q-observable functions in terms of quantum probability theory, and using results from the topos approach to quantum theory, we will provide a joint sample space for all quantum observables.     

The classical field limit of scattering theory for non-relativistic many-boson systems. I

We study the classical field limit of non-relativistic many-boson theories in space dimensionn≧3. When ?→0, the correlation functions, which are the averages of products of bounded functions of field operators at different times taken in suitable states, converge to the corresponding functions of the appropriate solutions of the classical field equation, and the quantum fluctuations are described by the equation obtained by linearizing the field equation around the classical solution. These properties were proved by Hepp [6] for suitably regular potentials and in finite time intervals. Using a general theory of existence of global solutions and a general scattering theory for the classical equation, we extend these results in two directions: (1) we consider more singular potentials, (2) more important, we prove that for dispersive classical solutions, the ?→0 limit is uniform in time in an appropriate representation of the field operators. As a consequence we obtain the convergence of suitable matrix elements of the wave operators and, if asymptotic completeness holds, of theS-matrix.     

Asymptotic Behaviour of the Spectrum of a Waveguide with Distant Perturbations

We consider a quantum waveguide modelled by an infinite straight tube with arbitrary cross-section in n-dimensional space. The operator we study is the Dirichlet Laplacian perturbed by two distant perturbations. The perturbations are described by arbitrary abstract operators “localized” in a certain sense. We study the asymptotic behaviour of the discrete spectrum of such system as the distance between the “supports” of localized perturbations tends to infinity. The main results are a convergence theorem and the asymptotics expansions for the eigenvalues. The asymptotic behaviour of the associated eigenfunctions is described as well. We provide a list of the operators, which can be chosen as distant perturbations. In particular, the distant perturbations may be a potential, a second order differential operator, a magnetic Schrödinger operator, an arbitrary geometric deformation of the straight waveguide, a delta interaction, and an integral operator.     

A quantum model of collective motion in nuclei and its dequantization

Collective coherent states of Perelomov type are denned by acting with unitary operators from a representation of the symplectic group on the ground state of closed-shell nuclei. A dequantization scheme associates with quantum observables classical ones, and with the state space a phase space and a generalized classical dynamics. Applications to the nuclei ⁴He, ¹⁶O and ⁴⁰Ca are derived from microscopic interactions.     

Normal forms for classical and boson systems

The group of Bogoliubov transformations of annihilation and creation operators is a subgroup of U(n,n) where n is the number of distinct pairs of annihilation and creation operators. Here, it is established that this subgroup of U(n,n) is isomorphic to Sp(2n,$\text{R}$), which appears in classical dynamics as the group of linear canonical transformations on a 2n-dimensional phase space. Well-known results in classical dynamics are then to used to deduce the full set of normal forms for Boson Hamiltonians. These are classified using a para-eigenvalue notation applicable to both classical and Bose field systems. A simple sufficient condition is given for the non-removability of pairs of creation operators. Explicit normal forms have not previously been given for Hamiltonians with this pathology, which may occur even when the corresponding classical Hamiltonian can be diagonalized.     

Algebras of Measurements: The Logical Structure of Quantum Mechanics

In quantum physics, a measurement is represented by a projection on some closed subspace of a Hilbert space. We study algebras of operators that abstract from the algebra of projections on closed subspaces of a Hilbert space. The properties of such operators are justified on epistemological grounds. Commutation of measurements is a central topic of interest. Classical logical systems may be viewed as measurement algebras in which all measurements commute. PACS: 02.10.-V.     

A Wigner-function formulation of finite-state quantum mechanics

For a non-relativistic system with only continous degrees of freedom (no spin, for example), the original Wigner function can be used as an alternative to the density matrix to represent an arbitrary quantum state. Indeed, the quantum mechanics of such systems can be formulated entirely in terms of the Wigner function and other functions on phase space, with no mention of state vectors or operators. In the present paper this Wigner-function formulation is extended to systems having only a finite number of orthogonal states. The “phase space” for such a system is taken to be not continuous but discrete. In the simplest cases it can be pictured as an N×N array of points, where N is the number of orthogonal states. The Wigner function is a real function on this phase space, defined so that its properties are closely analogous to those of the original Wigner function. In this formulation, observables, like states, are represented by real functions on the discrete phase space. The complex numbers still play an important role: they appear in an essential way in the rule for forming composite systems.