Rigorous time slicing approach to Feynman path integrals (Q2397284)

The Feynman path integral is very useful in quantum physics. But it is very difficult to justify the Feynman path integral mathematically because there is no countably additive measure in an infinite dimensional path space. Various attempts have been made to overcome the difficulty, and some of them are introduced briefly in Section 1.3. For example, \textit{R. H. Cameron} proposed `sequential Wiener integral' in [J. Math. Phys., Mass. Inst. Techn. 39, 126--140 (1960; Zbl 0096.06901)] and `Ilstow integral' in [\textit{R. H. Cameron}, J. Anal. Math. 10, 287--361 (1963; Zbl 0133.07701)] to define the Feynman path integral. \textit{K. Itô} defined `generalized uniform complex measure' in [``Generalized uniform complex measure in Hilbert space and its application to the Feynman path integrals'', in: Proceedings of the 5th Berkeley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability. I. Vol. 2. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 145--161 (1967)] and proved that the Feynman path integral exists for some potential \(V(x)\). \textit{S. Albeverio} and \textit{R. Høegh-Krohn} [Invent. Math. 40, 59--106 (1977; Zbl 0449.35092); Mathematical theory of Feynman path integrals. Springer, Cham (1976; Zbl 0337.28009)] defined `Fresnel integrals' and proved that the Feynman integral gives the fundamental solution of the Schrödinger equation. In this book, the author introduces the Feynman integral using a time slicing approximation method, and proves that Feynman's original definition of a path integral actually gives a fundamental solution of the Schrödinger equation. Although the time slicing approimation of Feynman path integrals do not converges absolutely, it has a definite finite value if the potential \(V(x)\) satisfies some assumption explained in Chap. 2. Furthermore, one can show that the limit of the time slicing approximation of Feynman path integrals is the fundamental solution of the Schrödinger equation. This is one of the main result of this book which is introduced in Chap. 4. Detailed proofs of the main results introduced in Chap. 4 are given in Chaps. 5 and 6. In Part II, the reader can see the tools to study the main results of this book, Part I. In particular, the proofs of the stationary phase method over a space of large dimension is given in Chaps. 7 and 8, the proofs of results on \(L_2\)-boundedness is given in Chap. 9.