Solution of Coulomb path integral in momentum space

The path integral for a point particle in a Coulomb potential is solved in momentum space. The solution permits us to answer for the first time an old question of quantum mechanics in curved spaces raised in 1957 by DeWitt: The Hamiltonian of a particle in a curved space must not contain an additional term proportional to the curvature scalar R, since this would change the level spacings in the hydrogen atom.     

New framework for the Feynman path integral

The well-known Fourier integral solution of the free diffusion equation in an arbitrary Euclidean space is reduced to Feynmannian integrals using the method partly contained in the formulation of the Fresnelian integral. By replacing the standard Hilbert space underlying the present mathematical formulation of the Feynman path integral by a new Hilbert space, the space of classical paths on the tangent bundle to the Euclidean space (and more general to an arbitrary Riemannian manifold) equipped with a natural inner product, we show that our Feynmannian integral is in better agreement with the qualitative features of the original Feynman path integral than the previous formulations of the integral.     

Feynman's path integral

Feynman's integral is defined with respect to a pseudomeasure on the space of paths: for instance, letC be the space of pathsq:T?? → configuration space of the system, letC be the topological dual ofC; then Feynman's integral for a particle of massm in a potentialV can be written where $$S_{\operatorname{int} } (q) = \mathop \smallint \limits_T V(q(t)) dt$$ and wheredw is a pseudomeasure whose Fourier transform is defined by for μ∈C′. Pseudomeasures are discussed; several integrals with respect to pseudomeasures are computed.     

Nonperturbative lorentzian path integral for gravity

We construct a well-defined regularized path integral for Lorentzian quantum gravity in terms of dynamically triangulated causal space-times. Each Lorentzian geometry and its action have a unique Wick rotation to the Euclidean sector. All space-time histories possess a distinguished notion of a discrete proper time and, for finite lattice volume, the associated transfer matrix is self-adjoint, bounded, and strictly positive. The degenerate geometric phases found in dynamically triangulated Euclidean gravity are not present.     

Thermoalgebras and path integral

Using a representation for Lie groups closely associated with thermal problems, we derive the algebraic rules of the real-time formalism for thermal quantum field theories, the so-called thermo-field dynamics (TFD), including the tilde conjugation rules for interacting fields. These thermo-group representations provide a unified view of different approaches for finite-temperature quantum fields in terms of a symmetry group. On these grounds, a path integral formalism is constructed, using Bogoliubov transformations, for bosons, fermions and non-abelian gauge fields. The generalization of the results for quantum fields in topology is addressed.     

A path integral method for data assimilation

Described here is a path integral, sampling-based approach for data assimilation, of sequential data and evolutionary models. Since it makes no assumptions on linearity in the dynamics, or on Gaussianity in the statistics, it permits consideration of very general estimation problems. The method can be used for such tasks as computing a smoother solution, parameter estimation, and data/model initialization.Speedup in the Monte Carlo sampling process is essential if the path integral method has any chance of being a viable estimator on moderately large problems. Here a variety of strategies are proposed and compared for their relative ability to improve the sampling efficiency of the resulting estimator. Provided as well are details useful for its implementation and testing.The method is applied to a problem in which standard methods are known to fail, an idealized flow/drifter problem, which has been used as a testbed for assimilation strategies involving Lagrangian data. It is in this kind of context that the method may prove to be a useful assimilation tool in oceanic studies.     

Translationally noninvariant path integral for Bose-Einstein condensate

The Bogolyubov [Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov (HFB)] method performs the one-particle (mean-field) approximation in the theory of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). Various generalizations of this method are possible. Apart from a nonlinear theory, taking the correlation effects into consideration, the HFB approximation for translationally noninvariant systems describes an instructive phenomenon. This paper is devoted to the treatment of two cases: superfluid ⁴He in porous media and atomic BEC in traps subjected to the gravitational field. Both these systems show the dependence of a critical BEC temperature T _c on their nonuniform properties in space.     

On the path integral for diffusion in curved spaces

The Onsager-Machlup Lagrangian for diffusion processes in curved spaces is determined by evaluating the covariant path integral by means of a spectral analysis of smooth trajectories in Riemannian normal coordinates. The Lagrangian involves a novel curvature scalar potential term $\text{v=?}\text{(}\text{1}\text{8}\text{)}\text{R}$. The present treatment replaces an earlier one.     

A riemann integral approach to Feynman's path integral

It is a well known result that the Feynman's path integral (FPI) approach to quantum mechanics is equivalent to Schrödinger's equation when we use as integration measure the Wiener-Lebesgue measure. This results in little practical applicability due to the great algebraic complexibity involved, and the fact is that almost all applications of (FPI) practical calculations — are done using a Riemann measure. In this paper we present an expansion to all orders in time of FPI in a quest for a representation of the latter solely in terms of differentiable trajetories and Riemann measure. We show that this expansion agrees with a similar expansion obtained from Schrödinger's equation only up to first order in a Riemann integral context, although by chance both expansions referred to above agree for the free particle and harmonic oscillator cases. Our results permit, from the mathematical point of view, to estimate the many errors done in practical calculations of the FPI appearing in the literature and, from the physical point of view, our results supports the stochastic approach to the problem.     

一维无限深势阱中粒子运动的路径积分解法

用路径积分的分析方法求得了一维无限深势阱中粒子的传播函数,并由传播函数导出了粒子的波函数和能量,展示了路径积分与传统方法的等价性,同时还介绍了一种有用的数学函数——雅可比θ_3函数．     

q-deformed path integral

Using differential and integral calculi on the quantum plane which are invariant with respect to quantum inhomogeneous Euclidean group E(2)_q, we construct the path integral representation for the quantum mechanical evolution operator kernel of the q-oscillator.