English

Reality and hermiticity from maximizing overlap in the future-included complex action theory

Quantum Physics 2016-06-21 v3 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In the complex action theory whose path runs over not only past but also future we study a normalized matrix element of an operator O^\hat{\cal O} defined in terms of the future state at the latest time TBT_B and the past state at the earliest time TAT_A with a proper inner product that makes normal a given Hamiltonian that is non-normal at first. We present a theorem that states that, provided that the operator O^\hat{\cal O} is QQ-Hermitian, i.e., Hermitian with regard to the proper inner product, the normalized matrix element becomes real and time-develops under a QQ-Hermitian Hamiltonian for the past and future states selected such that the absolute value of the transition amplitude from the past state to the future state is maximized. Furthermore, we give a possible procedure to formulate the QQ-Hermitian Hamiltonian in terms of QQ-Hermitian coordinate and momentum operators, and construct a conserved probability current density.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1502.00385,
  title  = {Reality and hermiticity from maximizing overlap in the future-included complex action theory},
  author = {Keiichi Nagao and Holger Bech Nielsen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.00385},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

Latex 12 pages, typos corrected, presentation improved, the final version to appear in Prog.Theor.Exp.Phys

R2 v1 2026-06-22T08:18:39.467Z