Convergence of the Feynman path integral in the weighted Sobolev spaces and the representation of correlation functions (Q1425460): Difference between revisions

Convergence of the time-slicing approximation for the Feynman path integral is investigated. Both coordinate and phase-space representations of the path integrals are considered. Time-slicing is determined through broken-line paths in coordinate or phase space correspondingly. It has previously been proven that these time-slicing approximate integrals (both in configuration space and in phase space) converge in \(L^2\) space as the discretization parameter tends to zero. In the reviewed paper it is shown that thus defined time-slicing approximation converges in some weighted Sobolev spaces as well. Besides the path integrals for two-point functions (propagators), the path integral representation of multi-point correlation functions is studied for the position and the momentum operators. These are expressed in terms of phase-space path integrals. It is shown that the approximate integrals of correlation functions may converge or diverge as the discretization parameter tends to zero. The divergence of the approximate integrals of correlation functions is argued to reflect the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics.