6,503 research outputs found
Pascual Jordan, his contributions to quantum mechanics and his legacy in contemporary local quantum physics
After recalling episodes from Pascual Jordan's biography including his
pivotal role in the shaping of quantum field theory and his much criticized
conduct during the NS regime, I draw attention to his presentation of the first
phase of development of quantum field theory in a talk presented at the 1929
Kharkov conference. He starts by giving a comprehensive account of the
beginnings of quantum theory, emphasising that particle-like properties arise
as a consequence of treating wave-motions quantum-mechanically. He then goes on
to his recent discovery of quantization of ``wave fields'' and problems of
gauge invariance. The most surprising aspect of Jordan's presentation is
however his strong belief that his field quantization is a transitory not yet
optimal formulation of the principles underlying causal, local quantum physics.
The expectation of a future more radical change coming from the main architect
of field quantization already shortly after his discovery is certainly quite
startling. I try to answer the question to what extent Jordan's 1929
expectations have been vindicated. The larger part of the present essay
consists in arguing that Jordan's plea for a formulation without ``classical
correspondence crutches'', i.e. for an intrinsic approach (which avoids
classical fields altogether), is successfully addressed in past and recent
publications on local quantum physics.Comment: More biographical detail, expansion of the part referring to Jordan's
legacy in quantum field theory, 37 pages late
L\"uders' and quantum Jeffrey's rules as entropic projections
We prove that the standard quantum mechanical description of a quantum state
change due to measurement, given by Lueders' rules, is a special case of the
constrained maximisation of a quantum relative entropy functional. This result
is a quantum analogue of the derivation of the Bayes--Laplace rule as a special
case of the constrained maximisation of relative entropy. The proof is provided
for the Umegaki relative entropy of density operators over a Hilbert space as
well as for the Araki relative entropy of normal states over a W*-algebra. We
also introduce a quantum analogue of Jeffrey's rule, derive it in the same way
as above, and discuss the meaning of these results for quantum bayesianism
Two-dimensional models as testing ground for principles and concepts of local quantum physics
In the past two-dimensional models of QFT have served as theoretical
laboratories for testing new concepts under mathematically controllable
condition. In more recent times low-dimensional models (e.g. chiral models,
factorizing models) often have been treated by special recipes in a way which
sometimes led to a loss of unity of QFT. In the present work I try to
counteract this apartheid tendency by reviewing past results within the setting
of the general principles of QFT. To this I add two new ideas: (1) a modular
interpretation of the chiral model Diff(S)-covariance with a close connection
to the recently formulated local covariance principle for QFT in curved
spacetime and (2) a derivation of the chiral model temperature duality from a
suitable operator formulation of the angular Wick rotation (in analogy to the
Nelson-Symanzik duality in the Ostertwalder-Schrader setting) for rational
chiral theories. The SL(2,Z) modular Verlinde relation is a special case of
this thermal duality and (within the family of rational models) the matrix S
appearing in the thermal duality relation becomes identified with the
statistics character matrix S. The relevant angular Euclideanization'' is done
in the setting of the Tomita-Takesaki modular formalism of operator algebras.
I find it appropriate to dedicate this work to the memory of J. A. Swieca
with whom I shared the interest in two-dimensional models as a testing ground
for QFT for more than one decade.
This is a significantly extended version of an ``Encyclopedia of Mathematical
Physics'' contribution hep-th/0502125.Comment: 55 pages, removal of some typos in section
Classification of linear differential operators with an invariant subspace of monomials
A complete classification of linear differential operators possessing
finite-dimensional invariant subspace with a basis of monomials is presented.Comment: 10 p
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