Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T01:58:42.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The formulation of quantum mechanics in terms of phase space functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

D. B. Fairlie
Affiliation:
St Salvator's College, St Andrews

Abstract

A relationship between the Hamiltonian of a system and its distribution function in phase space is sought which will guarantee that the average energy is the weighted mean of the Hamiltonian over phase space. This relationship is shown to imply the existence of a wave function satisfying the Schrödinger equation, and dictates the possible forms of time-dependence of the distribution function.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1964

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1) Baker, G. A. Phys. Rev. 109 (1958), 21982206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2) Bartlett, M. S. and Moyal, J. E. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 45 (1949), 545553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(3) Brouwer, L. E. J. Math. Ann. 72 (1912), 3457.Google Scholar
(4) Groenewold, H. J. Physica, 12 (1946), 405460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(5) Moyal, J. E. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 45 (1949), 99124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(6) Takabayasi, T. Progr. Theoret. Phys. 11 (1954), 341373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(7) Wigner, E. P. Phya. Rev. 40 (1932), 749759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar