Quantum Mechanical Path Integrals: from Transition Amplitudes to Worldline Formalism
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The Second Quantized Approach to the Study of Model Hamiltonians in Quantum Hall Regime
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences Winter 12-15-2016 The Second Quantized Approach to the Study of Model Hamiltonians in Quantum Hall Regime Li Chen Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Recommended Citation Chen, Li, "The Second Quantized Approach to the Study of Model Hamiltonians in Quantum Hall Regime" (2016). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 985. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/985 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of Physics Dissertation Examination Committee: Alexander Seidel, Chair Zohar Nussinov Michael Ogilvie Xiang Tang Li Yang The Second Quantized Approach to the Study of Model Hamiltonians in Quantum Hall Regime by Li Chen A dissertation presented to The Graduate School of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 Saint Louis, Missouri c 2016, Li Chen ii Contents List of Figures v Acknowledgements vii Abstract viii 1 Introduction to Quantum Hall Effect 1 1.1 The classical Hall effect . .1 1.2 The integer quantum Hall effect . .3 1.3 The fractional quantum Hall effect . .7 1.4 Theoretical explanations of the fractional quantum Hall effect . .9 1.5 Laughlin's gedanken experiment . -
Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics
Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics Dennis V. Perepelitsa MIT Department of Physics 70 Amherst Ave. Cambridge, MA 02142 Abstract We present the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics and demon- strate its equivalence to the Schr¨odinger picture. We apply the method to the free particle and quantum harmonic oscillator, investigate the Euclidean path integral, and discuss other applications. 1 Introduction A fundamental question in quantum mechanics is how does the state of a particle evolve with time? That is, the determination the time-evolution ψ(t) of some initial | i state ψ(t ) . Quantum mechanics is fully predictive [3] in the sense that initial | 0 i conditions and knowledge of the potential occupied by the particle is enough to fully specify the state of the particle for all future times.1 In the early twentieth century, Erwin Schr¨odinger derived an equation specifies how the instantaneous change in the wavefunction d ψ(t) depends on the system dt | i inhabited by the state in the form of the Hamiltonian. In this formulation, the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian play an important role, since their time-evolution is easy to calculate (i.e. they are stationary). A well-established method of solution, after the entire eigenspectrum of Hˆ is known, is to decompose the initial state into this eigenbasis, apply time evolution to each and then reassemble the eigenstates. That is, 1In the analysis below, we consider only the position of a particle, and not any other quantum property such as spin. 2 D.V. Perepelitsa n=∞ ψ(t) = exp [ iE t/~] n ψ(t ) n (1) | i − n h | 0 i| i n=0 X This (Hamiltonian) formulation works in many cases. -
Canonical Quantization of Two-Dimensional Gravity S
Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Vol. 90, No. 1, 2000, pp. 1–16. Translated from Zhurnal Éksperimental’noœ i Teoreticheskoœ Fiziki, Vol. 117, No. 1, 2000, pp. 5–21. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2000 by Vergeles. GRAVITATION, ASTROPHYSICS Canonical Quantization of Two-Dimensional Gravity S. N. Vergeles Landau Institute of Theoretical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka, Moscow oblast, 142432 Russia; e-mail: [email protected] Received March 23, 1999 Abstract—A canonical quantization of two-dimensional gravity minimally coupled to real scalar and spinor Majorana fields is presented. The physical state space of the theory is completely described and calculations are also made of the average values of the metric tensor relative to states close to the ground state. © 2000 MAIK “Nauka/Interperiodica”. 1. INTRODUCTION quantization) for observables in the highest orders, will The quantum theory of gravity in four-dimensional serve as a criterion for the correctness of the selected space–time encounters fundamental difficulties which quantization route. have not yet been surmounted. These difficulties can be The progress achieved in the construction of a two- arbitrarily divided into conceptual and computational. dimensional quantum theory of gravity is associated The main conceptual problem is that the Hamiltonian is with two ideas. These ideas will be formulated below a linear combination of first-class constraints. This fact after the necessary notation has been introduced. makes the role of time in gravity unclear. The main computational problem is the nonrenormalizability of We shall postulate that space–time is topologically gravity theory. These difficulties are closely inter- equivalent to a two-dimensional cylinder. -
Effective Quantum Field Theories Thomas Mannel Theoretical Physics I (Particle Physics) University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany
Generating Functionals Functional Integration Renormalization Introduction to Effective Quantum Field Theories Thomas Mannel Theoretical Physics I (Particle Physics) University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany 2nd Autumn School on High Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theory Yerevan, Armenia, 6-10 October, 2014 T. Mannel, Siegen University Effective Quantum Field Theories: Lecture 1 Generating Functionals Functional Integration Renormalization Overview Lecture 1: Basics of Quantum Field Theory Generating Functionals Functional Integration Perturbation Theory Renormalization Lecture 2: Effective Field Thoeries Effective Actions Effective Lagrangians Identifying relevant degrees of freedom Renormalization and Renormalization Group T. Mannel, Siegen University Effective Quantum Field Theories: Lecture 1 Generating Functionals Functional Integration Renormalization Lecture 3: Examples @ work From Standard Model to Fermi Theory From QCD to Heavy Quark Effective Theory From QCD to Chiral Perturbation Theory From New Physics to the Standard Model Lecture 4: Limitations: When Effective Field Theories become ineffective Dispersion theory and effective field theory Bound Systems of Quarks and anomalous thresholds When quarks are needed in QCD É. T. Mannel, Siegen University Effective Quantum Field Theories: Lecture 1 Generating Functionals Functional Integration Renormalization Lecture 1: Basics of Quantum Field Theory Thomas Mannel Theoretische Physik I, Universität Siegen f q f et Yerevan, October 2014 T. Mannel, Siegen University Effective Quantum -
Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
Utrecht Lecture Notes Masters Program Theoretical Physics September 2006 INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM FIELD THEORY by B. de Wit Institute for Theoretical Physics Utrecht University Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Path integrals and quantum mechanics 5 3 The classical limit 10 4 Continuous systems 18 5 Field theory 23 6 Correlation functions 36 6.1 Harmonic oscillator correlation functions; operators . 37 6.2 Harmonic oscillator correlation functions; path integrals . 39 6.2.1 Evaluating G0 ............................... 41 6.2.2 The integral over qn ............................ 42 6.2.3 The integrals over q1 and q2 ....................... 43 6.3 Conclusion . 44 7 Euclidean Theory 46 8 Tunneling and instantons 55 8.1 The double-well potential . 57 8.2 The periodic potential . 66 9 Perturbation theory 71 10 More on Feynman diagrams 80 11 Fermionic harmonic oscillator states 87 12 Anticommuting c-numbers 90 13 Phase space with commuting and anticommuting coordinates and quanti- zation 96 14 Path integrals for fermions 108 15 Feynman diagrams for fermions 114 2 16 Regularization and renormalization 117 17 Further reading 127 3 1 Introduction Physical systems that involve an infinite number of degrees of freedom are usually described by some sort of field theory. Almost all systems in nature involve an extremely large number of degrees of freedom. A droplet of water contains of the order of 1026 molecules and while each water molecule can in many applications be described as a point particle, each molecule has itself a complicated structure which reveals itself at molecular length scales. To deal with this large number of degrees of freedom, which for all practical purposes is infinite, we often regard a system as continuous, in spite of the fact that, at certain distance scales, it is discrete. -
Quantum Vacuum Energy Density and Unifying Perspectives Between Gravity and Quantum Behaviour of Matter
Annales de la Fondation Louis de Broglie, Volume 42, numéro 2, 2017 251 Quantum vacuum energy density and unifying perspectives between gravity and quantum behaviour of matter Davide Fiscalettia, Amrit Sorlib aSpaceLife Institute, S. Lorenzo in Campo (PU), Italy corresponding author, email: [email protected] bSpaceLife Institute, S. Lorenzo in Campo (PU), Italy Foundations of Physics Institute, Idrija, Slovenia email: [email protected] ABSTRACT. A model of a three-dimensional quantum vacuum based on Planck energy density as a universal property of a granular space is suggested. This model introduces the possibility to interpret gravity and the quantum behaviour of matter as two different aspects of the same origin. The change of the quantum vacuum energy density can be considered as the fundamental medium which determines a bridge between gravity and the quantum behaviour, leading to new interest- ing perspectives about the problem of unifying gravity with quantum theory. PACS numbers: 04. ; 04.20-q ; 04.50.Kd ; 04.60.-m. Key words: general relativity, three-dimensional space, quantum vac- uum energy density, quantum mechanics, generalized Klein-Gordon equation for the quantum vacuum energy density, generalized Dirac equation for the quantum vacuum energy density. 1 Introduction The standard interpretation of phenomena in gravitational fields is in terms of a fundamentally curved space-time. However, this approach leads to well known problems if one aims to find a unifying picture which takes into account some basic aspects of the quantum theory. For this reason, several authors advocated different ways in order to treat gravitational interaction, in which the space-time manifold can be considered as an emergence of the deepest processes situated at the fundamental level of quantum gravity. -
Large-Deviation Principles, Stochastic Effective Actions, Path Entropies
Large-deviation principles, stochastic effective actions, path entropies, and the structure and meaning of thermodynamic descriptions Eric Smith Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA (Dated: February 18, 2011) The meaning of thermodynamic descriptions is found in large-deviations scaling [1, 2] of the prob- abilities for fluctuations of averaged quantities. The central function expressing large-deviations scaling is the entropy, which is the basis for both fluctuation theorems and for characterizing the thermodynamic interactions of systems. Freidlin-Wentzell theory [3] provides a quite general for- mulation of large-deviations scaling for non-equilibrium stochastic processes, through a remarkable representation in terms of a Hamiltonian dynamical system. A number of related methods now exist to construct the Freidlin-Wentzell Hamiltonian for many kinds of stochastic processes; one method due to Doi [4, 5] and Peliti [6, 7], appropriate to integer counting statistics, is widely used in reaction-diffusion theory. Using these tools together with a path-entropy method due to Jaynes [8], this review shows how to construct entropy functions that both express large-deviations scaling of fluctuations, and describe system-environment interactions, for discrete stochastic processes either at or away from equilibrium. A collection of variational methods familiar within quantum field theory, but less commonly applied to the Doi-Peliti construction, is used to define a “stochastic effective action”, which is the large-deviations rate function for arbitrary non-equilibrium paths. We show how common principles of entropy maximization, applied to different ensembles of states or of histories, lead to different entropy functions and different sets of thermodynamic state variables. -
Basics of Thermal Field Theory
September 2021 Basics of Thermal Field Theory A Tutorial on Perturbative Computations 1 Mikko Lainea and Aleksi Vuorinenb aAEC, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland bDepartment of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract These lecture notes, suitable for a two-semester introductory course or self-study, offer an elemen- tary and self-contained exposition of the basic tools and concepts that are encountered in practical computations in perturbative thermal field theory. Selected applications to heavy ion collision physics and cosmology are outlined in the last chapter. 1An earlier version of these notes is available as an ebook (Springer Lecture Notes in Physics 925) at dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31933-9; a citable eprint can be found at arxiv.org/abs/1701.01554; the very latest version is kept up to date at www.laine.itp.unibe.ch/basics.pdf. Contents Foreword ........................................... i Notation............................................ ii Generaloutline....................................... iii 1 Quantummechanics ................................... 1 1.1 Path integral representation of the partition function . ....... 1 1.2 Evaluation of the path integral for the harmonic oscillator . ..... 6 2 Freescalarfields ..................................... 13 2.1 Path integral for the partition function . ... 13 2.2 Evaluation of thermal sums and their low-temperature limit . .... 16 2.3 High-temperatureexpansion. 23 3 Interactingscalarfields............................... ... 30 3.1 Principles of the weak-coupling expansion . 30 3.2 Problems of the naive weak-coupling expansion . .. 38 3.3 Proper free energy density to (λ): ultraviolet renormalization . 40 O 3 3.4 Proper free energy density to (λ 2 ): infraredresummation . -
Chiral Gauge Theories Revisited
CERN-TH/2001-031 Chiral gauge theories revisited Lectures given at the International School of Subnuclear Physics Erice, 27 August { 5 September 2000 Martin L¨uscher ∗ CERN, Theory Division CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland Contents 1. Introduction 2. Chiral gauge theories & the gauge anomaly 3. The regularization problem 4. Weyl fermions from 4+1 dimensions 5. The Ginsparg–Wilson relation 6. Gauge-invariant lattice regularization of anomaly-free theories 1. Introduction A characteristic feature of the electroweak interactions is that the left- and right- handed components of the fermion fields do not couple to the gauge fields in the same way. The term chiral gauge theory is reserved for field theories of this type, while all other gauge theories (such as QCD) are referred to as vector-like, since the gauge fields only couple to vector currents in this case. At first sight the difference appears to be mathematically insignificant, but it turns out that in many respects chiral ∗ On leave from Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, D-22603 Hamburg, Germany 1 νµ ν e µ W W γ e Fig. 1. Feynman diagram contributing to the muon decay at two-loop order of the electroweak interactions. The triangular subdiagram in this example is potentially anomalous and must be treated with care to ensure that gauge invariance is preserved. gauge theories are much more complicated. Their definition beyond the classical level, for example, is already highly non-trivial and it is in general extremely difficult to obtain any solid information about their non-perturbative properties. 1.1 Anomalies Most of the peculiarities in chiral gauge theories are related to the fact that the gauge symmetry tends to be violated by quantum effects. -
Regularization and Renormalization of Non-Perturbative Quantum Electrodynamics Via the Dyson-Schwinger Equations
University of Adelaide School of Chemistry and Physics Doctor of Philosophy Regularization and Renormalization of Non-Perturbative Quantum Electrodynamics via the Dyson-Schwinger Equations by Tom Sizer Supervisors: Professor A. G. Williams and Dr A. Kızılers¨u March 2014 Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction................................... 1 1.2 Dyson-SchwingerEquations . .. .. 2 1.3 Renormalization................................. 4 1.4 Dynamical Chiral Symmetry Breaking . 5 1.5 ChapterOutline................................. 5 1.6 Notation..................................... 7 2 Canonical QED 9 2.1 Canonically Quantized QED . 9 2.2 FeynmanRules ................................. 12 2.3 Analysis of Divergences & Weinberg’s Theorem . 14 2.4 ElectronPropagatorandSelf-Energy . 17 2.5 PhotonPropagatorandPolarizationTensor . 18 2.6 ProperVertex.................................. 20 2.7 Ward-TakahashiIdentity . 21 2.8 Skeleton Expansion and Dyson-Schwinger Equations . 22 2.9 Renormalization................................. 25 2.10 RenormalizedPerturbationTheory . 27 2.11 Outline Proof of Renormalizability of QED . 28 3 Functional QED 31 3.1 FullGreen’sFunctions ............................. 31 3.2 GeneratingFunctionals............................. 33 3.3 AbstractDyson-SchwingerEquations . 34 3.4 Connected and One-Particle Irreducible Green’s Functions . 35 3.5 Euclidean Field Theory . 39 3.6 QEDviaFunctionalIntegrals . 40 3.7 Regularization.................................. 42 3.7.1 Cutoff Regularization . 42 3.7.2 Pauli-Villars Regularization . 42 i 3.7.3 Lattice Regularization . 43 3.7.4 Dimensional Regularization . 44 3.8 RenormalizationoftheDSEs ......................... 45 3.9 RenormalizationGroup............................. 49 3.10BrokenScaleInvariance ............................ 53 4 The Choice of Vertex 55 4.1 Unrenormalized Quenched Formalism . 55 4.2 RainbowQED.................................. 57 4.2.1 Self-Energy Derivations . 58 4.2.2 Analytic Approximations . 60 4.2.3 Numerical Solutions . 62 4.3 Rainbow QED with a 4-Fermion Interaction . -
Comparison Between Quantum and Classical Dynamics in the Effective Action Formalism
Proceedings of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi" Course CXLIII. G. Casati, I. Guarneri and U. Smilansky (Eds.) lOS Press, Amsterdam 2000 Comparison between quantum and classical dynamics in the effective action formalism F. CAMETTI Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitd della Calabria - 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy and Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, unita di Cosenza - Italy G. JONA-LASINIO Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza"- P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy C. PRESILLA Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza"- P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy and Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, unita di Roma "La Sapienza" - Italy F. TONINELLI Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza"- P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy A major difficulty in comparing quantum and classical behavior resides in the struc tural differences between the corresponding mathematical languages. The Heisenberg equations of motion are operator equations only formally identical to the classical equa tions of motion. By taking the expectation of these equations, the well-known Ehrenfest theorem provides identities which, however, are not a closed system of equations which allows to evaluate the time evolution of the system. The formalism of the effective action seems to offer a possibility of comparing quantum and classical evolutions in a system atic and logically consistent way by naturally providing approximation schemes for the expectations of the coordinates which at the zeroth order coincide with the classical evolution [1]. The effective action formalism leads to equations of motion which differ from the classical equations by the addition of terms nonlocal in the time variable. -
Euclidean Field Theory
February 2, 2011 Euclidean Field Theory Kasper Peeters & Marija Zamaklar Lecture notes for the M.Sc. in Elementary Particle Theory at Durham University. Copyright c 2009-2011 Kasper Peeters & Marija Zamaklar Department of Mathematical Sciences University of Durham South Road Durham DH1 3LE United Kingdom http://maths.dur.ac.uk/users/kasper.peeters/eft.html [email protected] [email protected] 1 Introducing Euclidean Field Theory5 1.1 Executive summary and recommended literature............5 1.2 Path integrals and partition sums.....................7 1.3 Finite temperature quantum field theory.................8 1.4 Phase transitions and critical phenomena................ 10 2 Discrete models 15 2.1 Ising models................................. 15 2.1.1 One-dimensional Ising model................... 15 2.1.2 Two-dimensional Ising model................... 18 2.1.3 Kramers-Wannier duality and dual lattices........... 19 2.2 Kosterlitz-Thouless model......................... 21 3 Effective descriptions 25 3.1 Characterising phase transitions..................... 25 3.2 Mean field theory.............................. 27 3.3 Landau-Ginzburg.............................. 28 4 Universality and renormalisation 31 4.1 Kadanoff block scaling........................... 31 4.2 Renormalisation group flow........................ 33 4.2.1 Scaling near the critical point................... 33 4.2.2 Critical surface and universality................. 34 4.3 Momentum space flow and quantum field theory........... 35 5 Lattice gauge theory 37 5.1 Lattice action................................. 37 5.2 Wilson loops................................. 38 5.3 Strong coupling expansion and confinement.............. 39 5.4 Monopole condensation.......................... 39 3 4 1 Introducing Euclidean Field Theory 1.1. Executive summary and recommended literature This course is all about the close relation between two subjects which at first sight have very little to do with each other: quantum field theory and the theory of criti- cal statistical phenomena.