arXiv subjects

S. Wickramasekara

Publications and source records attributed to S. Wickramasekara.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Admissible vectors and Hilbert algebras

Admissible vectors for unitary representations of locally compact groups are the basis for group-frame and covariant coherent state expansions. Main tools in the study of admissible vectors have been Plancherel and central integral decomposition, of applicability only under certain separability and semifiniteness restrictions. In this work we present a study of admissible vectors in terms of convolution Hilbert algebras valid for arbitrary unitary representations of general locally compact groups.

math.FA↗

arXiv2013

Loop prolongations and three-cocycles in simulated magnetic fields from rotating reference frames

We show that the Wigner-Bargmann program of grounding non-relativistic quantum mechanics in the unitary projective representations of the Galilei group can be extended to include all non-inertial reference frames. The key concept is the \emph{Galilean line group}, the group of transformations that ties together all accelerating reference frames, and its representations. These representations are constructed under the natural constraint that they reduce to the well-known unitary, projective representations of the Galilei group when the transformations are restricted to inertial reference frames. This constraint can be accommodated only for a class of representations with a sufficiently rich cocycle structure. Unlike the projective representations of the Galilei group, these cocycle representations of the Galilean line group do not correspond to central extensions of the group. Rather, they correspond to a class of non-associative extensions, known as \emph{loop prolongations}, that are determined by three-cocycles. As an application, we show that the phase shifts due to the rotation of the earth that have been observed in neutron interferometry experiments and the rotational effects that lead to simulated magnetic fields in optical lattices can be rigorously derived from the representations of the loop prolongations of the Galilean line group.

math-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Mechanics in non-inertial reference frames: time-dependent rotations and loop prolongations

This is the fourth in a series of papers on developing a formulation of quantum mechanics in non-inertial reference frames. This formulation is grounded in a class of unitary cocycle representations of what we have called the Galilean line group, the generalization of the Galilei group to include transformations amongst non-inertial reference frames. These representations show that in quantum mechanics, just as the case in classical mechanics, the transformations to accelerating reference frames give rise to fictitious forces. In previous work, we have shown that there exist representations of the Galilean line group that uphold the non-relativistic equivalence principle as well as representations that violate the equivalence principle. In these previous studies, the focus was on linear accelerations. In this paper, we undertake an extension of the formulation to include rotational accelarations. We show that the incorporation of rotational accelerations requires a class of \emph{loop prolongations} of the Galilean line group and their unitary cocycle representations. We recover the centrifugal and Coriolis force effects from these loop representations. Loops are more general than groups in that their multiplication law need not be associative. Hence, our broad theoretical claim is that a Galilean quantum theory that holds in arbitrary non-inertial reference frames requires going beyond groups and group representations, the well-stablished framework for implementing symmetry transformations in quantum mechanics.

math-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Mechanics in Noninertial Reference Frames: Violations of the Nonrelativistic Equivalence Principle

In previous work we have developed a formulation of quantum mechanics in non-inertial reference frames. This formulation is grounded in a class of unitary cocycle representations of what we have called the Galilean line group, the generalization of the Galilei group that includes transformations amongst non-inertial reference frames. These representations show that in quantum mechanics, just as is the case in classical mechanics, the transformations to accelerating reference frames give rise to fictitious forces. A special feature of these previously constructed representations is that they all respect the non-relativistic equivalence principle, wherein the fictitious forces associated with linear acceleration can equivalently be described by gravitational forces. In this paper we exhibit a large class of cocycle representations of the Galilean line group that violate the equivalence principle. Nevertheless the classical mechanics analogue of these cocycle representations all respect the equivalence principle.

math-ph↗

arXiv2013

Point-form dynamics of quasistable states

We present a field theoretical model of point-form dynamics which exhibits resonance scattering. In particular, we construct point-form Poincaré generators explicitly from field operators and show that in the vector spaces for the in-states and out-states (endowed with certain analyticity and topological properties suggested by the structure of the $S$-matrix) these operators integrate to furnish differentiable representations of the causal Poincaré semigroup, the semidirect product of the semigroup of spacetime translations into the forward lightcone and the group of Lorentz transformations. We also show that there exists a class of \emph{irreducible} representations of the Poincaré semigroup defined by a complex mass and a half-integer spin. The complex mass characterizing the representation naturally appears in the construction as the square root of the pole position of the propagator. These representations provide a description of resonances in the same vein as Wigner's unitary irreducible representations of the Poincaré group provide a description of stable particles.

math-ph↗

arXiv2011

Unitary representations of the Galilean line group: Quantum mechanical principle of equivalence

We present a formalism of Galilean quantum mechanics in non-inertial reference frames and discuss its implications for the equivalence principle. This extension of quantum mechanics rests on the Galilean line group, the semidirect product of the real line and the group of analytic functions from the real line to the Euclidean group in three dimensions. This group provides transformations between all inertial and non-inertial reference frames and contains the Galilei group as a subgroup. We construct a certain class of unitary representations of the Galilean line group and show that these representations determine the structure of quantum mechanics in non-inertial reference frames. Our representations of the Galilean line group contain the usual unitary projective representations of the Galilei group, but have a more intricate cocycle structure. The transformation formula for the Hamiltonian under the Galilean line group shows that in a non-inertial reference frame it acquires a fictitious potential energy term that is proportional to the inertial mass, suggesting the equivalence of inertial mass and gravitational mass in quantum mechanics.

math-ph↗

arXiv2010

Spatial contraction of the Poincare group and Maxwell's equations in the electric limit

The contraction of the Poincare group with respect to the space trans- lations subgroup gives rise to a group that bears a certain duality relation to the Galilei group, that is, the contraction limit of the Poincare group with respect to the time translations subgroup. In view of this duality, we call the former the dual Galilei group. A rather remarkable feature of the dual Galilei group is that the time translations constitute a central subgroup. Therewith, in unitary irreducible representations (UIR) of the group, the Hamiltonian appears as a Casimir operator proportional to the identity H = EI, with E (and a spin value s) uniquely characterizing the representation. Hence, a physical system characterized by a UIR of the dual Galilei group displays no non-trivial time evolution. Moreover, the combined U(1) gauge group and the dual Galilei group underlie a non- relativistic limit of Maxwell's equations known as the electric limit. The analysis presented here shows that only electrostatics is possible for the electric limit, wholly in harmony with the trivial nature of time evolution governed by the dual Galilei group.

math-ph↗

arXiv2008

A Bicycle Built for Two: The Galilean and U(1) Gauge Invariance of the Schrödinger Field

This paper undertakes a study of the nature of the force associated with the local U (1) gauge symmetry of a non-relativistic quantum particle. To ensure invariance under local U (1) symmetry, a matter field must couple to a gauge field. We show that such a gauge field necessarily satisfies the Maxwell equations, whether the matter field coupled to it is relativistic or non-relativistic. This result suggests that the structure of the Maxwell equations is determined by gauge symmetry rather than the symmetry transformation properties of space-time. In order to assess the validity of this notion, we examine the transformation properties of the coupled matter and gauge fields under Galilean transformations. Our main technical result is the Galilean invariance of the full equations of motion of the U (1) gauge field.

math-ph↗

arXiv2008

On the Representation of Intermediate States in the Velocity Basis

Unstable state furnishes a semigroup irreducible representation of the Poincaré group. The state vector is represented by a superposition of energy eigenkets. As a consequence of this superposition, the state vector can be transformed into the rest frame through {\it a} Lorentz transformation only when the eigenkets are labeled by velocity variable, but not momentum variable. We also clarify the meaning of the velocity variable in the state vector with respect to the velocity derived from kinematical consideration of the scattering process.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

On the applications of Hardy class functions in scattering theory

This paper is a response to an article (R. de la Madrid, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, 39,9255-9268 (2006)) recently published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. The article claims that the theory of resonances and decaying states based on certain rigged Hilbert spaces of Hardy functions is physically untenable. In this paper we show that all of the key conclusions of the cited article are the result of either the errors in mathematical reasoning or an inadequate understanding of the literature on the subject.

math-ph↗

arXiv2007

Riggings of locally compact abelian groups

We obtain a set of generalized eigenvectors that provides a generalized spectral decomposition for a given unitary representation of a commutative, locally compact topological group. These generalized eigenvectors are functionals belonging to the dual space of a rigging on the space of square integrable functions on the character group. These riggings are obtained through suitable spectral measure spaces.

math-ph↗

arXiv2006

Galilean and Dynamical Invariance of Entanglement in Particle Scattering

Particle systems admit a variety of tensor product structures (TPSs) depending on the algebra of observables chosen for analysis. Global symmetry transformations and dynamical transformations may be resolved into local unitary operators with respect to certain TPSs and not with respect to others. Symmetry-invariant and dynamical-invariant TPSs are defined and various notions of entanglement are considered for scattering states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Complex Energies and Beginnings of Time Suggest a Theory of Scattering and Decay

Many useful concepts for a quantum theory of scattering and decay (like Lippmann-Schwinger kets, purely outgoing boundary conditions, exponentially decaying Gamow vectors, causality) are not well defined in the mathematical frame set by the conventional (Hilbert space) axioms of quantum mechanics. Using the Lippmann-Schwinger equations as the takeoff point and aiming for a theory that unites resonances and decay, we conjecture a new axiom for quantum mechanics that distinguishes mathematically between prepared states and detected observables. Suggested by the two signs $\pm iε$ of the Lippmann-Schwinger equations, this axiom replaces the one Hilbert space of conventional quantum mechanics by two Hardy spaces. The new Hardy space theory automatically provides Gamow kets with exponential time evolution derived from the complex poles of the $S$-matrix. It solves the causality problem since it results in a semigroup evolution. But this semigroup brings into quantum physics a new concept of the semigroup time $t=0$, a beginning of time. Its interpretation and observations are discussed in the last section.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2003

Representation of Semigroups in Rigged Hilbert Spaces: Subsemigroups of the Weyl-Heisenberg Group

This paper studies how differentiable representations of certain subsemigroups of the Weyl-Heisenberg group may be obtained in suitably constructed rigged Hilbert spaces. These semigroup representations are induced from a continuous unitary representation of the Weyl-Heisenberg group in a Hilbert space. Aspects of the rigged Hilbert space formulation of time asymmetric quantum mechanics are also investigated within the context of the results developed here.

math-ph↗

arXiv2003

A Note on the Topology of Space-time in Special Relativity

We show that a topology can be defined in the four dimensional space-time of special relativity so as to obtain a topological semigroup for time. The Minkowski 4-vector character of space-time elements as well as the key properties of special relativity are still the same as in the standard theory. However, the new topological structure allows the possibility of an intrinsic asymmetry in the time evolution of physical systems.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2003

Symmetry Representations in the Rigged Hilbert Space Formulation of Quantum Mechanics

We discuss some basic properties of Lie group representations in rigged Hilbert spaces. In particular, we show that a differentiable representation in a rigged Hilbert space may be obtained as the projective limit of a family of continuous representations in a nested scale of Hilbert spaces. We also construct a couple of examples illustrative of the key features of group representations in rigged Hilbert spaces. Finally, we establish a simple criterion for the integrability of an operator Lie algebra in a rigged Hilbert space.

math-ph↗

arXiv2003

On Einstein Causality and Time Asymmetry in Quantum Physics

A theorem of Hegerfeldt shows that if the spectrum of the Hamiltonian is bounded from below, then the propagation speed of certain probabilities does not have an upper bound. We prove a theorem analogous to Hegerfeldt's that appertains to asymmetric time evolutions given by a semigroup of operators. As an application, we consider a characterization of relativistic quasistable states by irreducible representations of the causal Poincare semigroup and study the implications of the new theorem for this special case.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Time Asymmetric Quantum Theory - II. Relativistic Resonances from S-Matrix Poles

Relativistic resonances and decaying states are described by representations of Poincaré transformations, similar to Wigner's definition of stable particles. To associate decaying state vectors to resonance poles of the $S$-matrix, the conventional Hilbert space assumption (or asymptotic completeness) is replaced by a new hypothesis that associates different dense Hardy subspaces to the in- and out-scattering states. Then one can separate the scattering amplitude into a background amplitude and one or several ``relativistic Breit-Wigner'' amplitudes, which represent the resonances per se. These Breit-Wigner amplitudes have a precisely defined lineshape and are associated to exponentially decaying Gamow vectors which furnish the irreducible representation spaces of causal Poincaré transformations into the forward light cone.

hep-th↗