English

Matrix representation of the time operator

High Energy Physics - Theory 2015-06-03 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

In quantum mechanics the time operator Θ\Theta satisfies the commutation relation [Θ,H]=i[\Theta,H]=i, and thus it may be thought of as being canonically conjugate to the Hamiltonian HH. The time operator associated with a given Hamiltonian HH is not unique because one can replace Θ\Theta by Θ+Θhom\Theta+ \Theta_{\rm hom}, where Θhom\Theta_{\rm hom} satisfies the homogeneous condition [Θhom,H]=0[\Theta_{\rm hom},H]=0. To study this nonuniqueness the matrix elements of Θ\Theta for the harmonic-oscillator Hamiltonian are calculated in the eigenstate basis. This calculation requires the summation of divergent series, and the summation is accomplished by using zeta-summation techniques. It is shown that by including appropriate homogeneous contributions, the matrix elements of Θ\Theta simplify dramatically. However, it is still not clear whether there is an optimally simple representation of the time operator.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1201.3838,
  title  = {Matrix representation of the time operator},
  author = {Carl M. Bender and M. Gianfreda},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1201.3838},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

13 pages, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T20:06:31.216Z