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
- DOI
- 10.1063/1.4757647;
- arXiv
- arXiv:1207.4473v2;
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