A new perspective on functional integration

DOI10.1063/1.531039MaRDI QIDQ4871958zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Pierre Cartier, Cécile DeWitt-Morette

Publication date 13 January 1997

Published in Journal of Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/funct-an/9602005

zbMATH Keywords

functional integralintegrationpath integral

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Integration on manifolds; measures on manifolds (58C35) Applications of manifolds of mappings to the sciences (58D30) Feynman integrals and graphs; applications of algebraic topology and algebraic geometry (81Q30)

Abstract: The core of this article is a general theorem with a large number of specializations. Given a manifold $N$ and a finite number of one-parameter groups of point transformations on $N$ with generators $Y,X_{(1)},cdots,X_{(d)}$, we obtain, via functional integration over spaces of pointed paths on $N$ (paths with one fixed point), a one-parameter group of functional operators acting on tensor or spinor fields on $N$. The generator of this group is a quadratic form in the Lie derivatives $L{a}_{X_{(a)}}$ in the $X_{(a)}$-direction plus a term linear in $L{a}_Y$. The basic functional integral is over $L^{2,1}$ paths $$ (continuous paths with square integrable first derivative). Although the integrator is invariant under time translation, the integral is powerful enough to be used for systems which are not time translation invariant. We give seven non trivial applications of the basic formula, and we compute its semiclassical expansion. The methods of proof are rigorous and combine Albeverio Hoegh-Krohn oscillatory integrals with Elworthy's parametrization of paths in a curved space. Unlike other approaches we solve Schr"odinger type equations directly, rather than solving first diffusion equations and then using analytic continuation.

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Cited in

(28)

• Path integral solution of the Dirichlet problem
• Uniform high-frequency approximations of the square root Helmholtz operator symbol
• Path integral solution of linear second order partial differential equations. I: The general construction
• Path integral solution of linear second order partial differential equations. II: Elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic cases
• From the Peierls bracket to the Feynman functional integral
• A new approach to the functional integral formalism and its application to some simple physical problems
• Notes on functional integration
• Path integrals in a multiply-connected configuration space (50 years after)
• New application of functional integrals to classical mechanics
• Symbolic languages and natural structures. A mathematician's account of empiricism
• The heat kernel for Kolmogorov type operators and its applications
• Reduction of a functional integral over discontinuous trajectories to integrals over continuous trajectories
• Functional integration
• Exact constructions of square-root Helmholtz operator symbols: the focusing quadratic profile.
• Stochastic mechanics and the Feynman integral
• Functional integration: A new perspective
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3925182 (Why is no real title available?)
• Comment on: Path integral solution of the Schrödinger equation in curvilinear coordinates: A straightforward procedure [J. Math. Phys. 37, 4310–4319 (1996)]
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1124114 (Why is no real title available?)
• Fourier transforms of Lorentz invariant functions
• Time displaced interactions: Classical dynamics and path integral quantization
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 895257 (Why is no real title available?)
• Quantum mechanics of charged particles in random electromagnetic fields
• Path integral solution of the Schrödinger equation in curvilinear coordinates: A straightforward procedure
• The semiclassical approximation of multiple functional integrals
• Semiclassical approximation of functional integrals containing the centrifugal potential
• On topology changes in quantum field theory and quantum gravity
• Differential equation for a functional integral

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