More on Rotations as Spin Matrix Polynomials

Any nonsingular function of spin j matrices always reduces to a matrix polynomial of order 2j. The challenge is to find a convenient form for the coefficients of the matrix polynomial. The theory of biorthogonal systems is a useful framework to meet this challenge. Central factorial numbers play a key role in the theoretical development. Explicit polynomial coefficients for rotations expressed either as exponentials or as rational Cayley transforms are considered here. Structural features of the results are discussed and compared, and large j limits of the coefficients are examined.Comment: Additional references, simplified derivation of Cayley transform polynomial coefficients, resolvent and exponential related by Laplace transform. Other minor changes to conform to published version to appear in J Math Phy

Deformation Quantization of Nambu Mechanics

Phase Space is the framework best suited for quantizing superintegrable systems--systems with more conserved quantities than degrees of freedom. In this quantization method, the symmetry algebras of the hamiltonian invariants are preserved most naturally, as illustrated on nonlinear $\sigma$-models, specifically for Chiral Models and de Sitter $N$-spheres. Classically, the dynamics of superintegrable models such as these is automatically also described by Nambu Brackets involving the extra symmetry invariants of them. The phase-space quantization worked out then leads to the quantization of the corresponding Nambu Brackets, validating Nambu's original proposal, despite excessive fears of inconsistency which have arisen over the years. This is a pedagogical talk based on hep-th/0205063 and hep-th/0212267, stressing points of interpretation and care needed in appreciating the consistency of Quantum Nambu Brackets in phase space. For a parallel discussion in Hilbert space, see T Curtright's contribution in these Proceedings [hep-th 0303088].Comment: Invited talk by the first author at the Coral Gables Conference (C02/12/11.2), Ft Lauderdale, Dec 2002. 14p, LateX2e, aipproc, amsfont

Umbral Vade Mecum

In recent years the umbral calculus has emerged from the shadows to provide an elegant correspondence framework that automatically gives systematic solutions of ubiquitous difference equations --- discretized versions of the differential cornerstones appearing in most areas of physics and engineering --- as maps of well-known continuous functions. This correspondence deftly sidesteps the use of more traditional methods to solve these difference equations. The umbral framework is discussed and illustrated here, with special attention given to umbral counterparts of the Airy, Kummer, and Whittaker equations, and to umbral maps of solitons for the Sine-Gordon, Korteweg--de Vries, and Toda systems.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0710.230

Branched Hamiltonians and Supersymmetry

Some examples of branched Hamiltonians are explored both classically and in the context of quantum mechanics, as recently advocated by Shapere and Wilczek. These are in fact cases of switchback potentials, albeit in momentum space, as previously analyzed for quasi-Hamiltonian chaotic dynamical systems in a classical setting, and as encountered in analogous renormalization group flows for quantum theories which exhibit RG cycles. A basic two-worlds model, with a pair of Hamiltonian branches related by supersymmetry, is considered in detail.Comment: Minor changes to conform to published version. PACS: 03.65.Ca, 03.65.Ta, 45.20.J

Quantum Mechanics in Phase Space

Ever since Werner Heisenberg's 1927 paper on uncertainty, there has been considerable hesitancy in simultaneously considering positions and momenta in quantum contexts, since these are incompatible observables. But this persistent discomfort with addressing positions and momenta jointly in the quantum world is not really warranted, as was first fully appreciated by Hilbrand Groenewold and Jos\'e Moyal in the 1940s. While the formalism for quantum mechanics in phase space was wholly cast at that time, it was not completely understood nor widely known --- much less generally accepted --- until the late 20th century.Comment: A brief history of deformation quantization, ca 1930-1960, with some elementary illustrations of the theor

Elementary results for the fundamental representation of SU(3)

A general group element for the fundamental representation of SU(3) is expressed as a second order polynomial in the hermitian generating matrix H, with coefficients consisting of elementary trigonometric functions dependent on the sole invariant det(H), in addition to the group parameter.Comment: In memoriam Yoichiro Nambu (1921-2015

Galileons and Naked Singularities

A simple trace-coupled Galileon model is shown to admit spherically symmetric static solutions with naked spacetime curvature singularities.Comment: References and acknowledgements added, and corrections made to Figure