Effective descriptions of complex quantum systems: path integrals and operator ordering problems

DOI10.1002/ANDP.200510150MaRDI QIDQ5695852zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Ulrich Eckern, Michael J. Gruber, Peter Schwab

Publication date 6 October 2005

Published in Annalen der Physik (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0503369

zbMATH Keywords

operator orderingcoordinate-dependent masseffective quantum theories

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Lattice systems (Ising, dimer, Potts, etc.) and systems on graphs arising in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B20) Statistical mechanics of solids (82D20) Statistical mechanics of superconductors (82D55)

Abstract: We study certain aspects of the effective, occasionally called collective, description of complex quantum systems within the framework of the path integral formalism, in which the environment is integrated out. Generalising the standard Feynman-Vernon Caldeira-Leggett model to include a non-linear coupling between ``particle and environment, and considering a particular spectral density of the coupling, a coordinate-dependent mass (or velocity-dependent potential) is obtained. The related effective quantum theory, which depends on the proper discretisation of the path integral, is derived and discussed. As a result, we find that in general a simple effective low-energy Hamiltonian, in which only the coordinate-dependent mass enters, cannot be formulated. The quantum theory of weakly coupled superconductors and the quantum dynamics of vortices in Josephson junction arrays are physical examples where these considerations, in principle, are of relevance.

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Cited in

(2)

• OPERATOR ORDERING IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL N = 1 SUPERSYMMETRY WITH CURVED MANIFOLD
• Low-temperature quasi-classical approximation for quantum macroscopic phenomena

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