Lecture X 29

Lecture X: Feynman Path Integral

Although the second quantisation provides a convenient formulation of many-body systems,
it admits solution only for systems that are eectively free. In our choice of applications,
we were careful to consider only those systems for which interaction eects could be consid-
ered as small, e.g. large spin in quantum magnetism of weak interaction in the dilute Bose
gas. Yet interactions can have a profound eect leading to transitions to new phases with
elementary excitations very dierent from the bare particles. To address such phenom-
ena, it is necessary to switch to a new formulation of quantum mechanics. However, to
do so, it will be necessary to leave behind many-body theories and return to single-particle
systems.
Motivation:
Alternative formulation of QM (cf. canonical quantisation)
Close to classical construction i.e. semi-classics easily retrieved
Eective formulation of non-perturbative approaches
Prototype of higher-dimensional eld theories
Time-dependent Schr odinger equation
i
t
| =

H|
Formal solution: |(t) = e
i

Ht/
|(0) =

n
e
iEnt/
|nn|(0)
Time-evolution operator
|(t

) =

U(t

, t)|(t),

U(t

, t) = e

H(t

t)
(t

t) N.B. Causal
Real-space representation:
(q

, t

) q

|(t

) = q

U(t

, t)
_
dq|qq|
|(t) =
_
dq U(q

, t

; q, t)(q, t),
where U(q

, t

; q, t) = q

|e

H(t

t)
|q(t

t) propagator or Green function

_
i
t


H
_

U(t

t) = i(t

t) N.B.
t
(t

t) = (t

t)
Physically: U(q

, t

; q, t) describes probability amplitude for particle to propagate

from q at time t to q

at time t

Construction of Path Integral

Feynmans idea: separate time evolution into N discrete time steps t = t/N
e
i

Ht/
= [e
i

Ht/
]
N
Lecture Notes October 2005
Lecture X 30
Then separate the operator content so that momentum operators stand to the left
and position operators to the right:
e
i

Ht/
= e
i

Tt/
e
i

V t/
+ O(t
2
)
q
F
|[e
i

Ht/
]
N
|q
I
q
F
|

e
i

Tt/
e
i

V t/

. . .

e
i

Tt/
e
i

V t/
|q
I

Inserting at resol. of id. =

_

dq
n
_

dp
n
|q
n
q
n
|p
n
p
n
|, and using q|p =
1

2
e
iqp/
,
e
i

V t/
|q
n
q
n
|p
n
p
n
|e
i

Tt/
= |q
n
e
iV (qn)t/
q
n
|p
n
e
iT(pn)t/
p
n
|,
and p
n+1
|q
n
q
n
|p
n
=
1
2
e
iqn(pnp
n+1
)/
q
F
|e
i

Ht/
|q
I
=
_
N1

n=1
q
N
=q
F
,q
0
=q
I
dq
n
N

n=1
dp
n
2
exp
_

t
N1

n=0
_
V (q
n
) + T(p
n+1
) p
n+1
q
n+1
q
n
t
_
_
q
I
q
F
t
n
p
N 1 2
Phase
Space
t
i.e. at each time step, integration over the classical phase space coords. (q
n
, p
n
)
Contributions from trajectories where (q
n+1
q
n
)p
n+1
> are negligible
motivates continuum limit
q
F
|e
i

Ht/
|q
I
=
_
q(t)=q
F
,q(0)=q
I
D(q, p)
..
_
N1

n=1
q
N
=q
F
,q
0
=q
I
dq
n
N

n=1
dp
n
2
exp
_

_
t
0
dt

..
t
N1

n=0
(
H(q, p|
t

=tn
)
..
V (q
n
) + T(p
n+1
)
p q|
t

=tn
..
p
n+1
q
n+1
q
n
t
)
_
Hamiltonian formulation of Feynman Path Integral:
Propagator expressed as functional integral
q
F
|e
i

Ht/
|q
I
=
_
q(t)=q
F
,q(0)=q
I
D(q, p) exp
_
i

Action
..
_
t
0
dt

Lagrangian
..
(p q H(p, q))
_
Lecture Notes October 2005
Lecture X 31
Quantum transition amplitude expressed as sum over all possible phase space
trajectories (subject to appropriate b.c.) and weighted by classical action
Lagrangian formulation: for free-particle Hamiltonian H(p, q) = p
2
/2m + V (q)
q
F
|e
i

Ht/
|q
I
=
_
q(t)=q
F
,q(0)=q
I
Dq e
(i/)
R
t
0
dt

V (q)
_
Dp
Gaussian integral on p
..
exp
_

_
t
0
dt

_
p
2
2m
p q
__
p
2
2m
p q
1
2m
p

2
..
(p m q)
2

1
2
m q
2
Functional integral justied by discretisation
q
F
|e
i

Ht/
|q
I
=
_
q(t)=q
F
,q(0)=q
I
Dq exp
_
i

_
t
0
dt

_
m q
2
2
V (q)
__
Dq lim
N
_
Nm
it2
_
N/2 N1

n=1
dq
n
Lecture Notes October 2005