All Questions
Tagged with quantization sg.symplectic-geometry
21 questions
71
votes
10
answers
11k
views
The Planck constant for mathematicians
The questions
Q1. What are simple ways to think mathematically about the physical meanings of the Planck constant?
Q2. How does the Planck constant appear in mathematics of quantum mechanics? In ...
- 24.7k
34
votes
5
answers
9k
views
How to see the Phase Space of a Physical System as the Cotangent Bundle
Two things today motivated this question.
First, the professor said that in a lecture Thurston mentioned
Any manifold can be seen as the configuration space of some physical system.
Clearly we ...
- 4,842
12
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Lagrangian Submanifolds in Deformation Quantization
Suppose I have a symplectic manifold $M$, and have a deformation quantization of it, i.e. an associative product $\ast:C(M)[[\hbar]]\otimes C(M)[[\hbar]]\to C(M)[[\hbar]]$ so that $f\ast g=fg+\{f,g\}\...
- 18.7k
11
votes
2
answers
795
views
What are the implications of torsion in H^2 for geometric quantization?
Given a real manifold $M$ with symplectic $2$-form $\omega$,
one can ask whether the cohomology class $[\omega] \in H^2(M;{\mathbb R})$ lies in the image of
$H^2(M;{\mathbb Z})$. If so, one can ask ...
- 27.9k
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Quantization of conjugacy classes in a Lie group
Let $G$ be a Lie group (and to be safe, let's assume it is semisimple). Consider the action of $G$ on itself by conjugation, and form the GIT (algebro-geometric) quotient $G/\!/G$. Then let $\pi:G\...
- 18.7k
9
votes
1
answer
704
views
Physical intuition behind prequantization spaces
Given a symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$ with integral symplectic form, that is $$\omega \in \text{Im}(H_2(M,\mathbb{Z}) \to H_2(M,\mathbb{R})),$$ one can form a so-called prequantization space, that ...
- 1,227
9
votes
1
answer
369
views
Geometric quantization: why are the prequantum operators self-adjoint?
I'm reading a bit about geometric quantization and, among the axioms of this construction, is one requiring that the operator $\hat f = -\textrm i \hbar \nabla _{X_f} + f$ associated to the classical ...
- 5,407
9
votes
0
answers
544
views
From classical to quantum mechanics
Let ($X,\omega$) be a symplectic manifold (phase space of some physical system). Consider the algebra $\mathcal{C}^{\infty}(X,\mathbb{R})$ of smooth functions on $X$ and $[\omega]\in \textrm{H}^{2}_{\...
- 1,629
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why is geometric quantization (esp. Berezin-Toeplitz quantization) interesting for a symplectic geometer/topologist?
I know that many symplectic geometers are interested in quantization as well.
From what I understood, quantization isn't expected to be used as a tool to answer symplectic questions (as in ...
7
votes
1
answer
332
views
Question about a remark on quantization of Coulomb branches
I will follow the definition of Coulomb branches of $3d$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theories from the paper by Braverman, Finkelberg and Nakajima, Towards a mathematical definition of Coulomb branches of 3-...
- 3,318
7
votes
0
answers
139
views
Could we extend the star product on a Poisson manifold from its ring of smooth functions to its de Rham complex?
Let $M$ be a smooth manifold with a Poisson bracket $\{-,-\}$. Kontsevich proved that there exists a deformation quantization of $M$, i.e. let $C^{\infty}(M)[[\hbar]]=C^{\infty}(M)\otimes_{\mathbb{R}}\...
- 9,019
5
votes
0
answers
574
views
Isn't the quantomorphism group really just the "WKB-quantomorphism" group?
Introduction
In his second-most upvoted post, called "Why quantum mechanics?" (second only to his post on fibre bundles & gauge theory) in the physics SE community, Urs Schreiber, in the setting ...
- 215
5
votes
0
answers
274
views
Deformation quantization of Poisson bracket without star-product
Kontsevich's formality theorem implies in particular that star-products on a $C^\infty$-manifold $M$,
$$f\star g = fg + \sum_{k\geq1} \hbar^k B_k(f,g),\qquad f,g\in C^\infty(M),$$ where $B_k$ are ...
- 654
3
votes
2
answers
531
views
Hamiltonian group actions in the context of holomorphic line bundles
When studying Hamiltonian group actions, a very nice set up might be to take the following:
Let $M$ be a compact Kähler manifold with (integral) Kähler form $\omega$, endowed with a Hamiltonian $G$ ...
- 627
3
votes
1
answer
161
views
Reference of $\hbar$-differential operator from symplectic geometry perspective
I am reading Bates and Weinstein's book 'Lectures on the Geometry of Quantization'. In Chapter 6, they defined the $\hbar$-differential operator, and showed (Theorem 6.7) that the Lagrangian ...
- 587
3
votes
0
answers
413
views
From symplectic manifold to Hilbert spaces [closed]
What could be a mathematical model of such physical wish? I'm looking for something sending a symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$ to a Hilbert space $H_{M}$ with the following properties:
1- We should ...
- 1,607
2
votes
0
answers
540
views
Polarizations in algebraic and symplectic geometry
In context of Abelian varieties there are a couple of equivalent ways to
introduce the polarization of a algebraic variety. One way is to
choose a line bundle $\mathcal{L}$ which satisfies certain ...
- 5,966
1
vote
1
answer
227
views
choices of connection in prequantization
In the definition of pre-quantization of representation $f\to \hat{f}$, (here $\hat{f}$ is Hermitian operator)of $C^{\infty}(M)$ on $L^2(M,L,\mu)$ where $\mu$ is Hermitian form, suppose that there ...
user21574
1
vote
0
answers
662
views
On prequantization bundles over integral symplectic manifolds
I am trying to clarify certain subtleties regarding prequantization bundles over symplectic manifolds, for which I haven't found any clear explanation so far.
Let me fix some definitions first.
...
- 1,227
1
vote
0
answers
176
views
On different definitions of a prequantization space
Geometric quantization associates to a symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$ a hermitian line bundle $L \to M$ with connection $\nabla$ whose curvature is $\omega$ (up to some constant).
Without talking ...
- 1,227
0
votes
2
answers
227
views
Does this distribution exist?
Assume there is a distribution in two variables $\mathcal{W}\in\mathcal{S}'(\mathbb{R}^2)$ with Fourier transform $\hat{\mathcal{W}}(\alpha,\beta)\equiv \int_{-\infty}^\infty e^{i(\alpha x+\beta y)} \...
