English

Classical states, quantum field measurement

Quantum Physics 2021-01-25 v6 High Energy Physics - Theory Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

Classical Koopman--von Neumann Hilbert spaces of states are constructed here by the action of classical random fields on a vacuum state in ways that support an action of the quantized electromagnetic field and of the U(1)U(1)--invariant observables of the quantized Dirac spinor field, allowing a manifestly Lorentz invariant classical understanding of the state spaces of the two field theories, generalizing the Quantum--Mechanics--Free Systems of Tsang&Caves and Quantum Non-Demolition measurements. The algebra of functions on a classical phase space is commutative but the algebra of classical observables associated with coordinate transformations is noncommutative, so that, for example, we can as much ask whether a classical state is an eigenstate of a rotation as we can in quantum mechanics and so that entangled states can be distinguished from mixed states, making classical random fields as weird as quantum fields.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1709.06711,
  title  = {Classical states, quantum field measurement},
  author = {Peter Morgan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.06711},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

v6: As accepted by Physica Scripta. v5: As submitted to Physica Scripta. Accepted Manuscript embargoed for 12 months. v4: 16 pages. Koopman-von Neumann given its proper dues; more reorganization of the text, math unchanged. v3: 13 pages. Reorganized. v2: 6 pages. Additional calculations

R2 v1 2026-06-22T21:48:58.117Z