Gauge invariance and Weyl-polymer quantization (Q2343046): Difference between revisions

Most textbooks of Quantum Mechanics use the Heisenberg canonical quantization of unbounded space and momentum variables. Textbooks of Mathematical Physics, however, prefer to use the Weyl quantization, i.e. relations formulated in terms of unitary operators. Standard regularity conditions guarantee the equivalence of these two approaches. Strocchi shows in his book that there is a lack of regularity for certain physical systems, so that the two quantization procedures become inequivalent, surprisingly. The reason is that, though Weyl quantization makes sense, the Heisenberg canonical variables cannot be defined as self-adjoint operators on the Hilbert space of physical states. Strocchi calls them \textit{non-regular Weyl representations}. The simplest example is a particle on a circle or an electron in some periodic potential. In other cases the lack of regularity may be due to the existence of a gauge group. Non-regular representations also play a role in string quantization and Loop Quantum Gravity, where they became known as \textit{polymer quantizations}. Relevant situations are also found in Quantum Chromodynamics, where the non-regular quantization procedure solves the \(U(1)\) gauge problem and provides a link between the gauge group topology and the vacuum structure, and so Strocchi's book presents current advances in quantization.