Related papers: Dirac and the Path Integral
Feynman's Lagrangian path integral was an outgrowth of Dirac's vague surmise that Lagrangians have a role in quantum mechanics. Lagrangians implicitly incorporate Hamilton's first equation of motion, so their use contravenes the uncertainty…
Feynman's path integral formulation arose from his attempt to incorporate the Lagrangian framework into quantum mechanics, offering what he regarded as a more fundamental perspective than the Hamiltonian approach, particularly in the…
Feynman's path integral is generalized to quantum mechanics on p-adic space and time. Such p-adic path integral is analytically evaluated for quadratic Lagrangians. Obtained result has the same form as that one in ordinary quantum…
This paper is a continuation of the author's preceding one. In the preceding paper the author has rigorously constructed the Feynman path integral for the Dirac equation in the form of the sum-over-histories, satisfying the superposition…
Many introductory courses in quantum mechanics include Feynman's time-slicing definition of the path integral, with a complete derivation of the propagator in the simplest of cases. However, attempts to generalize this, for instance to…
Path integrals are a central tool when it comes to describing quantum or thermal fluctuations of particles or fields. Their success dates back to Feynman who showed how to use them within the framework of quantum mechanics. Since then, path…
The Feynman path integral is defined over the space $\mathbb{R}^T$ of all possible paths; it has been a powerful tool to develop Quantum Mechanics. The absolute value of Feynman's integrand is not integrable, then Lebesgue integration…
Feynman's path integrals in ordinary, p-adic and adelic quantum mechanics are considered. The corresponding probability amplitudes $ K(x^{"},t^{"};x',t')$ for two-dimensional systems with quadratic Lagrangians are evaluated analytically and…
Given an arbitrary Lagrangian function on \RR^d and a choice of classical path, one can try to define Feynman's path integral supported near the classical path as a formal power series parameterized by "Feynman diagrams," although these…
Starting from the earlier notions of stationary action principles, we show how Schwinger's Quantum Action Principle descended from Dirac's formulation, which independently led Feynman to his path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics.…
We consider Feynman's path integral approach to quantum mechanics with a noncommutativity in position and momentum sectors of the phase space. We show that a quantum-mechanical system with this kind of noncommutativity is equivalent to the…
Efforts to give an improved mathematical meaning to Feynman's path integral formulation of quantum mechanics started soon after its introduction and continue to this day. In the present paper, one common thread of development is followed…
Feynman's time-slicing construction approximates the path integral by a product, determined by a partition of a finite time interval, of approximate propagators. This paper formulates general conditions to impose on a short-time…
A systematic classification of Feynman path integrals in quantum mechanics is presented and a table of solvable path integrals is given which reflects the progress made during the last ten years or so, including, of course, the main…
I offer some historical comments about the origins of Feynman's path integral approach, as an alternative approach to standard quantum mechanics. Looking at the interaction between Einstein and Feynman, which was mediated by Feynman's…
We revisit the path integral description of the motion of a relativistic electron. Applying a minor but well motivated conceptional change to Feynman's chessboard model, we obtain exact solutions of the Dirac equation. The calculation is…
The Feynman path integral plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics, offering significant insights into the interaction between classical action and propagators, and linking quantum electrodynamics (QED) with Feynman diagrams. However, the…
A calculation is presented that shows that Feynman's path integral implies Ostrogradsky's Hamiltonian for nonsingular Lagrangians with second derivatives. The procedure employs the stationary phase approximation to obtain the limiting…
The Feynman checkerboard problem is an interesting path integral approach to the Dirac equation in `1+1' dimensions. I compare two approaches reported in the literature and show how they may be reconciled. Some physical insights may be…
Consistent dynamics which couples classical and quantum degrees of freedom exists. This dynamics is linear in the hybrid state, completely positive and trace preserving. Starting from completely positive classical-quantum master equations,…