I understand that in the limit that h_bar goes to zero, the Feynman path integral is dominated by the classical path, and then using the stationary phase approximation we can derive an approximation for the propagator which is a function of the classical trajectory (see http://www.blau.itp.unibe.ch/lecturesPI.pdf pg 46).

I am under the impression that this further implies that the particle follows the classical trajectory but I don't understand how the above mentioned fact implies this.

The propagator describes the time-evolution of the wavefunction, so I would think that this classical limit form of the propagator should give a time-evolution in which the wavefunction follows the classical trajectory, but I have not been able to find such work. Moreover, even this statement itself is problematic since the wavefunction describes a probability distribution and not a single trajectory.

\bf{New Edit:}

$\textbf{New Edit:}$ In section 7 of Feynman's paper introducing the path integral (see http://imotiro.org/repositorio/howto/artigoshistoricosordemcronologica/1948c%20-FEYNMAN%201948C%20Invention%20of%20the%20path%20integral%20formalism%20for%20quantum%20mechanics.pdf) he discusses the classical limit. It appears that the key to understanding why the fact that the classical path dominates the path integral further implies that the particle follows the classical trajectory may be found in Feynman's remark on pg 21: "Now we ask, as $\hbar → 0$ what values of the intermediate coordinates $x_i$ contribute most strongly to the integral? These will be the values most likely to be found by experiment and therefore will determine, in the limit, the classical path." However, I don't understand why "These will be the values most likely to be found by experiment" ?

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I understand that in the limit that h_bar goes to zero, the Feynman path integral is dominated by the classical path, and then using the stationary phase approximation we can derive an approximation for the propagator which is a function of the classical trajectory (see http://www.blau.itp.unibe.ch/lecturesPI.pdf pg 46).

I am under the impression that this further implies that the particle follows the classical trajectory but I don't understand how the above mentioned fact implies this.

The propagator describes the time-evolution of the wavefunction, so I would think that this classical limit form of the propagator should give a time-evolution in which the wavefunction follows the classical trajectory, but I have not been able to find such work. Moreover, even this statement itself is problematic since the wavefunction describes a probability distribution and not a single trajectory.

\bf{New Edit:} In section 7 of Feynman's paper introducing the path integral (see http://imotiro.org/repositorio/howto/artigoshistoricosordemcronologica/1948c%20-FEYNMAN%201948C%20Invention%20of%20the%20path%20integral%20formalism%20for%20quantum%20mechanics.pdf) he discusses the classical limit. It appears that the key to understanding why the fact that the classical path dominates the path integral further implies that the particle follows the classical trajectory may be found in Feynman's remark on pg 21: "Now we ask, as $\hbar 0$ what values of the intermediate coordinates $x_i$ contribute most strongly to the integral? These will be the values most likely to be found by experiment and therefore will determine, in the limit, the classical path." However, I don't understand why "These will be the values most likely to be found by experiment" ?

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# Classical Limit of Feynman Path Integral

I understand that in the limit that h_bar goes to zero, the Feynman path integral is dominated by the classical path, and then using the stationary phase approximation we can derive an approximation for the propagator which is a function of the classical trajectory (see http://www.blau.itp.unibe.ch/lecturesPI.pdf pg 46).

I am under the impression that this further implies that the particle follows the classical trajectory but I don't understand how the above mentioned fact implies this.

The propagator describes the time-evolution of the wavefunction, so I would think that this classical limit form of the propagator should give a time-evolution in which the wavefunction follows the classical trajectory, but I have not been able to find such work. Moreover, even this statement itself is problematic since the wavefunction describes a probability distribution and not a single trajectory.