Matrix representation of the time operator
Abstract
In quantum mechanics the time operator satisfies the commutation relation , and thus it may be thought of as being canonically conjugate to the Hamiltonian . The time operator associated with a given Hamiltonian is not unique because one can replace by , where satisfies the homogeneous condition . To study this nonuniqueness the matrix elements of 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 simplify dramatically. However, it is still not clear whether there is an optimally simple representation of the time operator.
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