Multi-time wave functions for quantum field theory

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Abstract: Multi-time wave functions such as phi(t1,x1,ldots,tN,xN) have one time variable tj for each particle. This type of wave function arises as a relativistic generalization of the wave function psi(t,x1,ldots,xN) of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. We show here how a quantum field theory can be formulated in terms of multi-time wave functions. We mainly consider a particular quantum field theory that features particle creation and annihilation. Starting from the particle-position representation of state vectors in Fock space, we introduce multi-time wave functions with a variable number of time variables, set up multi-time evolution equations, and show that they are consistent. Moreover, we discuss the relation of the multi-time wave function to two other representations, the Tomonaga-Schwinger representation and the Heisenberg picture in terms of operator-valued fields on space-time. In a certain sense and under natural assumptions, we find that all three representations are equivalent; yet, we point out that the multi-time formulation has several technical and conceptual advantages.




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