dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaPhysical Principles and Properties of Unstable States
| Authors | Piotr Kielanowski |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0312178 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0312178 |
Abstract
The main subject of the paper is the description of unstable states in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Unstable states in quantum field theory can only be introduced as the intermediate states and not as asymptotic states. The absence of the intermediate unstable states from the asymptotic states is compatible with unitarity. Thus the concept of an unstable state is not introduced in quantum field theory despite the fact that an unstable state has well defined linear momentum, angular momentum and other intrinsic quantum numbers. In the rigged Hilbert space quantum mechanics one can define vectors that correspond to the unstable states. These vectors are the generalized eigenvectors (kets in the rigged Hilbert space) with complex eigenvalues of the self-adjoint Hamiltonian. The real part of the eigenvalue corresponds to the mass of an unstable state and the imaginary part is one half of the total width. Such vectors form the minimally complex semigroup representation of the Poincar\'e transformations into the forward light cone.
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"abstract": "The main subject of the paper is the description of unstable states in\nquantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Unstable states in quantum field\ntheory can only be introduced as the intermediate states and not as asymptotic\nstates. The absence of the intermediate unstable states from the asymptotic\nstates is compatible with unitarity. Thus the concept of an unstable state is\nnot introduced in quantum field theory despite the fact that an unstable state\nhas well defined linear momentum, angular momentum and other intrinsic quantum\nnumbers. In the rigged Hilbert space quantum mechanics one can define vectors\nthat correspond to the unstable states. These vectors are the generalized\neigenvectors (kets in the rigged Hilbert space) with complex eigenvalues of the\nself-adjoint Hamiltonian. The real part of the eigenvalue corresponds to the\nmass of an unstable state and the imaginary part is one half of the total\nwidth. Such vectors form the minimally complex semigroup representation of the\nPoincar\\\u0027e transformations into the forward light cone.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0312178",
"authors": [
"Piotr Kielanowski"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"title": "Physical Principles and Properties of Unstable States",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0312178"
},
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