Gauge invariance and Weyl-polymer quantization

Author(s)
    • Strocchi, Franco
Bibliographic Information

Gauge invariance and Weyl-polymer quantization

Franco Strocchi

(Lecture notes in physics, v. 904)

Springer, c2016

  • : [pbk.]

Search this Book/Journal
Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-93) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The book gives an introduction to Weyl non-regular quantization suitable for the description of physically interesting quantum systems, where the traditional Dirac-Heisenberg quantization is not applicable. The latter implicitly assumes that the canonical variables describe observables, entailing necessarily the regularity of their exponentials (Weyl operators). However, in physically interesting cases -- typically in the presence of a gauge symmetry -- non-observable canonical variables are introduced for the description of the states, namely of the relevant representations of the observable algebra. In general, a gauge invariant ground state defines a non-regular representation of the gauge dependent Weyl operators, providing a mathematically consistent treatment of familiar quantum systems -- such as the electron in a periodic potential (Bloch electron), the Quantum Hall electron, or the quantum particle on a circle -- where the gauge transformations are, respectively, the lattice translations, the magnetic translations and the rotations of 2 . Relevant examples are also provided by quantum gauge field theory models, in particular by the temporal gauge of Quantum Electrodynamics, avoiding the conflict between the Gauss law constraint and the Dirac-Heisenberg canonical quantization. The same applies to Quantum Chromodynamics, where the non-regular quantization of the temporal gauge provides a simple solution of the U(1) problem and a simple link between the vacuum structure and the topology of the gauge group. Last but not least, Weyl non-regular quantization is briefly discussed from the perspective of the so-called polymer representations proposed for Loop Quantum Gravity in connection with diffeomorphism invariant vacuum states.

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Heisenberg quantization and Weyl quantization.- Delocalization, gauge invariance and non-regular representations.- Quantum mechanical gauge models.- Non-regular representations in quantum field theory.- Diffeomorphism invariance and Weyl polymer quantization.- A generalization of Stone-von Neumann theorem.- Bibliography.- Index.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-1 of 1
Details
  • NCID
    BB20056927
  • ISBN
    • 9783319176949
  • LCCN
    2015953627
  • Country Code
    sz
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Cham
  • Pages/Volumes
    x, 97 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
Page Top