Published October 2012 | Version v1
Journal article

Quantum mechanics in fractional and other anomalous spacetimes

  • 1. Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, Serrano 121, 28006 Madrid (Spain)
  • 2. Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Golm (Germany)
  • 3. INFN Gruppo Collegato di Trento, Università di Trento, 38100 Povo (Trento) (Italy)
  • 4. Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Cattolica, via Musei 41, 25121 Brescia (Italy)
  • 5. Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen (Netherlands)

Description

We formulate quantum mechanics in spacetimes with real-order fractional geometry and more general factorizable measures. In spacetimes where coordinates and momenta span the whole real line, Heisenberg's principle is proven and the wave-functions minimizing the uncertainty are found. In spite of the fact that ordinary time and spatial translations are broken and the dynamics is not unitary, the theory is in one-to-one correspondence with a unitary one, thus allowing us to employ standard tools of analysis. These features are illustrated in the examples of the free particle and the harmonic oscillator. While fractional (and the more general anomalous-spacetime) free models are formally indistinguishable from ordinary ones at the classical level, at the quantum level they differ both in the Hilbert space and for a topological term fixing the classical action in the path integral formulation. Thus, all non-unitarity in fractional quantum dynamics is encoded in a contribution depending only on the initial and final states.

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Mathematical Physics
Journal Volume
53
Journal Issue
10
Journal Page Range
p. 102110-102110.25
ISSN
0022-2488
CODEN
JMAPAQ

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
44052159
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
CONFIGURATION; HARMONIC OSCILLATORS; HILBERT SPACE; QUANTUM MECHANICS; SPACE-TIME; UNITARITY; WAVE FUNCTIONS
Descriptors DEC
BANACH SPACE; FUNCTIONS; MATHEMATICAL SPACE; MECHANICS; SPACE

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2012 American Institute of Physics