dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaQuantum mechanics emerging from "timeless" classical dynamics
| Authors | H. -T. Elze |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0306096 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0306096 |
| Journal | Trends in General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, ed. C.V. Benton (Nova Science Publ., Hauppauge, NY, 2006), 79-101 |
Abstract
We study classical Hamiltonian systems in which the intrinsic proper time evolution parameter is related through a probability distribution to the physical time, which is assumed to be discrete. In this way, a physical clock with discrete states is introduced, which presently is still treated as decoupled from the system. This is motivated by the recent discussion of ``timeless'' reparametrization invariant models, where discrete physical time has been constructed based on quasi-local observables. Employing the path-integral formulation of classical mechanics developed by Gozzi et al., we show that these deterministic classical systems can be naturally described as unitary quantum mechanical models. We derive the emergent quantum Hamiltonian in terms of the underlying classical one. Such Hamiltonians typically need a regularization - here performed by discretization - in order to arrive at models with a stable groundstate in the continuum limit. This is demonstrated in several examples, recovering and generalizing a model advanced by 't Hooft.
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"abstract": "We study classical Hamiltonian systems in which the intrinsic proper time\nevolution parameter is related through a probability distribution to the\nphysical time, which is assumed to be discrete. In this way, a physical clock\nwith discrete states is introduced, which presently is still treated as\ndecoupled from the system. This is motivated by the recent discussion of\n``timeless\u0027\u0027 reparametrization invariant models, where discrete physical time\nhas been constructed based on quasi-local observables. Employing the\npath-integral formulation of classical mechanics developed by Gozzi et al., we\nshow that these deterministic classical systems can be naturally described as\nunitary quantum mechanical models. We derive the emergent quantum Hamiltonian\nin terms of the underlying classical one. Such Hamiltonians typically need a\nregularization - here performed by discretization - in order to arrive at\nmodels with a stable groundstate in the continuum limit. This is demonstrated\nin several examples, recovering and generalizing a model advanced by \u0027t Hooft.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0306096",
"authors": [
"H. -T. Elze"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"gr-qc",
"hep-th"
],
"journal_ref": "Trends in General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, ed. C.V.\n Benton (Nova Science Publ., Hauppauge, NY, 2006), 79-101",
"title": "Quantum mechanics emerging from \"timeless\" classical dynamics",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0306096"
},
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