6533b829fe1ef96bd12898d4

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Functional Derivative Approach

Walter DittrichMartin Reuter

subject

AlgebraFormalism (philosophy of mathematics)Computer sciencePath integral formulationEquations of motionFunctional derivative

description

Let us now leave the path integral formalism temporarily and reformulate operatorial quantum mechanics in a way which will make it easy later on to establish the formal connection between operator and path integral formalism. Our objective is to introduce the generating functional into quantum mechanics. Naturally we want to generate transition amplitudes. The problem confronting us is how to transcribe operator quantum mechanics as expressed in Heisenberg’s equation of motion into a theory formulated solely in terms of c-numbers. This can be achieved either by Schwinger’s action principle or with the aid of a generation functional defined as follows:

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2001-01-01
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58298-6_18