No Arabic abstract
We illustrate an isomorphic description of the observable algebra for quantum mechanics in terms of functions on the projective Hilbert space, and its Hilbert space analog, with a noncommutative product with explicit coordinates and discuss the physical and dynamical picture. The isomorphism is then used as a base to essentially translate the differential symplectic geometry of the infinite dimensional manifolds onto the observable algebra as a noncommutative geometry, hence obtaining the latter from the physical theory itself. We have essentially an extended formalism of the Schrodinger versus Heisenberg picture which we try to describe mathematically as a coordinate map from the phase space, which we have presented argument to be seen as the quantum model of the physical space, to the noncommutative geometry as coordinated by the six position and momentum operators. The observable algebra is taken as an algebra of functions on the latter operators. We advocate the idea that the noncommutative geometry can be seen as an alternative, noncommutative coordinate, picture of quantum (phase) space. Issues about the kind of noncommutative geometry obtained are also explored.
We discuss the notion about physical quantities as having values represented by real numbers, and its limiting to describe nature to be understood in relation to our appreciation that the quantum theory is a better theory of natural phenomena than its classical analog. Getting from the algebra of physical observables to their values on a fixed state is, at least for classical physics, really a homomorphic map from the algebra into the real number algebra. The limitation of the latter to represent the values of quantum observables with noncommutating algebraic relation is obvious. We introduce and discuss the idea of the noncommutative values of quantum observables and its feasibility, arguing that at least in terms of the representation of such a value as an infinite set of complex number, the idea makes reasonable sense theoretically as well as practically.
The phase space of a relativistic system can be identified with the future tube of complexified Minkowski space. As well as a complex structure and a symplectic structure, the future tube, seen as an eight-dimensional real manifold, is endowed with a natural positive-definite Riemannian metric that accommodates the underlying geometry of the indefinite Minkowski space metric, together with its symmetry group. A unitary representation of the 15-parameter group of conformal transformations can then be constructed that acts upon the Hilbert space of square-integrable holomorphic functions on the future tube. These structures are enough to allow one to put forward a quantum theory of phase-space events. In particular, a theory of quantum measurement can be formulated in a relativistic setting, based on the use of positive operator valued measures, for the detection of phase-space events, hence allowing one to assign probabilities to the outcomes of joint space-time and four-momentum measurements in a manifestly covariant framework. This leads to a localization theorem for phase-space events in relativistic quantum theory, determined by the associated Compton wavelength.
Noncommutative geometries generalize standard smooth geometries, parametrizing the noncommutativity of dimensions with a fundamental quantity with the dimensions of area. The question arises then of whether the concept of a region smaller than the scale - and ultimately the concept of a point - makes sense in such a theory. We argue that it does not, in two interrelated ways. In the context of Connes spectral triple approach, we show that arbitrarily small regions are not definable in the formal sense. While in the scalar field Moyal-Weyl approach, we show that they cannot be given an operational definition. We conclude that points do not exist in such geometries. We therefore investigate (a) the metaphysics of such a geometry, and (b) how the appearance of smooth manifold might be recovered as an approximation to a fundamental noncommutative geometry.
We present a reduction procedure for gauge theories based on quotienting out the kernel of the presymplectic form in configuration-velocity space. Local expressions for a basis of this kernel are obtained using phase space procedures; the obstructions to the formulation of the dynamics in the reduced phase space are identified and circumvented. We show that this reduction procedure is equivalent to the standard Dirac method as long as the Dirac conjecture holds: that the Dirac Hamiltonian, containing the primary first class constraints, with their Lagrange multipliers, can be enlarged to an extended Dirac Hamiltonian which includes all first class constraints without any change of the dynamics. The quotienting procedure is always equivalent to the extended Dirac theory, even when it differs from the standard Dirac theory. The differences occur when there are ineffective constraints, and in these situations we conclude that the standard Dirac method is preferable --- at least for classical theories. An example is given to illustrate these features, as well as the possibility of having phase space formulations with an odd number of physical degrees of freedom.
We study two-dimensional Hamiltonians in phase space with noncommutativity both in coordinates and momenta. We consider the generator of rotations on the noncommutative plane and the Lie algebra generated by Hermitian rotationally invariant quadratic forms of noncommutative dynamical variables. We show that two quantum phases are possible, characterized by the Lie algebras $sl(2,mathbb{R})$ or $su(2)$ according to the relation between the noncommutativity parameters, with the rotation generator related with the Casimir operator. From this algebraic perspective, we analyze the spectrum of some simple models with nonrelativistic rotationally invariant Hamiltonians in this noncommutative phase space, as the isotropic harmonic oscillator, the Landau problem and the cylindrical well potential. PACS: 03.65.-w; 03.65.Fd MSC: 81R05; 20C35; 22E70