An Introduction Into The Feynman Path Integral - Grosche

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November 1992 NTZ 29/92
AN INTRODUCTION INTO
THE FEYNMAN PATH INTEGRAL
CHRISTIAN GROSCHE
International School for Advanced Studies
Via Beirut 4
34014 Trieste, Miramare, Italy
Lecture given at the graduate college Quantenfeldtheorie und deren Anwen-
dung in der Elementarteilchen- und Festk orperphysik, Universit at Leipzig,
16-26 November 1992.
Abstract. In this lecture a short introduction is given into the theory of
the Feynman path integral in quantum mechanics. The general formulation
in Riemann spaces will be given based on the Weyl- ordering prescription,
respectively product ordering prescription, in the quantum Hamiltonian. Also,
the theory of space-time transformations and separation of variables will be
outlined. As elementary examples I discuss the usual harmonic oscillator, the
radial harmonic oscillator, and the Coulomb potential.
Contents
Contents
Page
I Introduction 2
II General Theory 5
II.1 The Feynman Path Integral 5
II.2 Weyl-Ordering 10
II.3 Product-Ordering 17
II.4 Space-Time Transformations 21
II.5 Separation of Variables 30
III Important Examples 33
III.1 The Free Particle 33
III.2 The Harmonic Oscillator 34
III.3 The Radial Path Integral 40
III.3.1 The General Radial Path Integral 40
III.3.2 The Radial Harmonic Oscillator 50
III.4 Other Elementary Path Integrals 57
III.5 The Coulomb Potential 59
III.5.1 The 1/r-Potential in R
2
61
3
- The Hydrogen Atom 68
III.5.3 Coulomb Potential and 1/r-Potential in D Dimensions 74
III.5.4 Axially Symmetric Coulomb-Like Potentials 81
Bibliography 89
1
Introduction
I INTRODUCTION
It was Feynmans (and Diracs [20]) genius [32, 33] to realize that the integral kernel
(propgator) of the time-evolution operator can be expressed as a sum over all possible
paths connecting the points q
and q
with weight factor exp

_
iS(q
, q
; T)/h
, where
S is the action, i.e.
K(q
, q
; T) =
all paths
A e
iS(q
,q
;T)/ h
(1.1)
with some appropriate normalization A.
Surprisingly enough, the same calculus (same in the sense of a nave analytical
continuation) was already know to mathematicians due to Wiener in the study of
stochastic processes. This calculus in functional space (Wiener measure) attracted
several mathematicians, including Kac (who mentioned being inuenced by Feynmans
work!), and was further developed by several authors, where best known is the work
of Cameron and Martin. The standard reference concerning these achievements is the
review paper of Gelfand and Yaglom [37], where all these early work was rst critically
discussed.
Unfortunately, the discussion between physicists and mathematicians remains
near to nothing for quite a long time, except for [37]; the situation changed with
Nelson [80], and nowadays there are many attempts to understand the path integral
mathematically despite its pathalogies of innite measure, innite sums of phases
with unit absolute values etc.
In particular, the work of Morette-DeWitt starting with her early paper [76] gave
rise to a beautiful theory of the semiclassical expansion in powers of h [18, 19, 77-79].
As it is known for quite a long time, the propagator can be expressed semi-classically as
e
i S
Cl
/ h
, with S
Cl
the classical action, times a prefactor. This prefactor is remarkably
simple, namely one has
K
WKB
(x
, x
; t
, t
) = [g(x
)g(x
)]
1
4
_
1
2 i h
_
D/2
det
_

2
S
Cl
[x
, x
]
x
a
x
b
_
exp
_
i
h
S
Cl
[x
, x
]
_
. (1.2)
g = det(g
ab
) of some possible metric structure of a Riemannian space, and the
determinant
M := det
_

2
S
Cl
[x
, x
]
x
a
x
b
_
(1.3)
is known as the Pauli-van Vleck-Morette determinant. The semiclassical (WKB-) solu-
tion of the Feynman kernel (we use the notions semiclassical and WKB simultaneously)
is based on the fact that the harmonic oscillator, respectively, the general quadratic
Lagrangian, is exactly solvable and its solution is only determined by the classical
path and not on the summation over all paths. As it turns out, an arbitrary kernel
can be expanded in terms of the classical paths as an expansion in powers of h. The
semiclassical kernel (at least its short time representation) is known since van Vleck,
derived by the correspondence principle. Later on Pauli [83] has given a detailed dis-
cussion in his well-known lecture notes. More rigorously the short time propagator for
the one-dimensional case was discussed by Morette [76] in 1951 and a few years later
2
I Introduction
by DeWitt [17] extending the previous work to D-dimensional curved spaces. Con-
cerning the semi-classical expansion, every path integral with a Hamiltonian which
is quadratic in its momenta can be expanded about the semiclassical approximation
(1.2) giving a consistent and converging theory, compare DeWitt-Morette [18, 19, 74,
75, 77].
Supersymmetric quantum mechanics provides a very convenient way of classifying
exactly solvable models in usual quantum mechanics, and a systematic way of
addressing the problem of nding all exactly solvable potentials [56].
By e.g. Dutt et al. [16, 29] it was shown that there are a total of twelve dierent po-
tentials. A glance on these potentials shows that their corresponding Schrodinger equa-
tion leads either to the dierential equation of the conuent hypergeometric dierential
equation with eigen-functions proportional to Laguerre polynomials (bound states)
and Whittaker functions (continuous states), respectively to the dierential equation
of the hypergeometric dierential equation with eigen-functions proportional to Ja-
cobi polynomials (bound states) and hypergeometric functions (continuous states).
In Reference [16] this topic was nicely addressed and it was shown that in principle
the radial harmonic oscillator and the (modied) Poschl-Teller-potential solutions are
sucient to give the solutions of all remaining ones, together with the technique of
space-time transformations as introduced by Duru and Kleinert [27, 28, 62] (see also
reference [49], Ho and Inomata [55], Steiner [90], and Pak and Sokmen [82]) enables
one to give the explicit path integral solution of the Coulomb V
(C)
(r) = e
2
/r (r > 0)
and the Morse potential V
(M)
(x) = ( h
2
A
2
/2m)(e
2x
2e
x
) (x R) (compare e.g.
reference [46] for a review of some recent results). The same line of reasoning is true for
the path integral solution of the (modied) Poschl-Teller potential [5-35] which give in
turn the path integral solutions for the Rosen-Morse V
(RM)
(x) = AtanhxB/ cosh
2
x
(x R), the hyperbolic Manning-Rosen V
(MRa)
(r) = Acothr +B/ sinh
2
r (r > 0),
and the trigonometric Manning-Rosen-like potential V
(MRb)
(x) = Acot x+B/ sin
2
x
(0 < x < ), respectively [44].
These lecture notes are far from being a comprehensive introduction into the
whole topic of path integrals, in particular if eld theory is concerned. As old as
they be, the books of Feynman and Hibbs [34] and Schulman [86] as still a must for
becoming familiar with the subject. A more recent contribution is due to Kleinert
[64]. Myself and F. Steiner are presently preparing extended lecture notes Feynman
Path Integrals and a Table of Feynman Path Integrals [50, 51], which will appear
next year.
Several reviews have been written about path integrals, let me note Gelfand and
Jaglom [37], Albeverio et al. [1-3], DeWitt-Morette et al. [19, 79], Marinov [73], and
e.g. for the topic of path integrals for Coulomb potentials [46].
The contents of the lecture is as follows. In the next Chapter I outline the basic
theory of the Feynman path integral, i.e. the lattice denition according to the Weyl-
ordering prescription in the Hamiltonian and a related prescription which is of use
in several applications in my own work. Furthermore, the technique of canonical
coordinate-, time- and space-time transformations will be presented. The Chapter
closes with the discussion of separation of variables in path integrals.
In the third chapter I present some important examples of exact path integral
evaluations. This includes, of course, the harmonic oscillator in its simplest form. I also
discuss the radial path integral with its application of the exact treatment of the radial
(time-dependent) harmonic oscillator. The chapter concludes with a comprehensive
discussion of the Coulomb potential, including the genuine Coulomb problem, its D-
3
Introduction
dimensional generalization, and a generalization with additional axially-symmetric
terms.
Acknowledgement
Finally I want to thank the organizers of this graduate college for their kind invitation
to give this lecture. I also want to thank F. Steiner which whom part of the presented
material was compiled.
4
II.1 The Feynman Path Integral
II GENERAL THEORY
1. The Feynman Path Integral
In order to set up the requirements of the path integral formalism we start with the
generic case, where the time dependent Schrodinger equation in some D-dimensional
Riemannian manifold M with metric g
ab
and line element ds
2
= g
ab
dq
a
dq
b
is given by
_
h
2
2m
LB
+V (q)
_
(q; t) =
h
i
t
(q; t). (1.1)
is some state function, dened in the Hilbert space L
2
- the space of all square
integrable functions in the sense of the scalar product (f
1
, f
2
) =
_
M
g f
1
(q)f
2
(q)dq
[g := det(g
ab
), f
1
, f
2
L
2
] and
LB
is the Laplace-Beltrami operator
LB
:= g
1
2
a
g
1
2
g
ab
b
= g
ab
b
+g
ab
(
a
ln
g )
b
+ g
ab
,a
b
(1.2)
(implicit sums over repeated indices are understood).
The Hamiltonian H :=
h
2
2m
LB
+ V (q) is usually dened in some dense subset
D(H) L
2
, so that H is selfadjoint. In contrast to the time independent Schrodinger
equation, H = E, which is an eigenvalue problem, and equation (1.1) which are
both dened on D(H), the unitary operator U(T) := e
i TH/ h
describes the time
evolution of arbitrary states L
2
(time-evolution operator): H is the innitessimal
generator of U. The time evolution for some state reads: (t
) = U(t
, t
)(t
)
Rewriting the time evolution with U(T) as an integral operator we get
(q
; t
) =
_
_
g(q
)K(q
, q
; t
, t
)(q
; t
)dq
, (1.3)
where K(T) is the celebrated Feynman kernel. Equations (1.1) and (1.3) are
connected. Having an explicit expression for K(T) in (1.3) one can derive in the
limit T = 0 equation (1.1). This, on the other hand proves that K(T) is indeed
the correct integral kernel corresponding to U(T). A rigorous proof includes, of course,
the check of the selfadjointness of H, i.e. H = H
. Due to the semigroup property

U(t
2
)U(t
1
) = U(t
1
+ t
2
) (1.4)
(H time-independent) we have
K(q
, q
; t
+ t
) =
_
K(q
, q; t
+ t)K(q, q
; t + t
)dq (1.5)
In the case of an Euclidean space, where g
ab
=
ab
, S is just the classical action,
S
Cl
=
_ _
m
2
q
2
V (q)
dt =
_
L
cl
(q, q)dt, and we get explicitly [q
(j)
:= (q
(j)
q
(j1)
),
q
(j)
= q(t
j
), t
j
= t
+ j, = (t
)/N, N , D = dimension of the Euclidean

space] :
K(q
, q
; T) = lim
N
_
m
2 i hT
_ND
2
N1
j=1
_

dq
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
2
q
(j)
V (q
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
.
5
General Theory
q(t
)=q
_
q(t
)=q
Dq(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
q
2
V (q)
_
dt
_
(1.6)
For an arbitrary metric g
ab
things are unfortunately not so easy. The rst formulation
for this case is due to DeWitt [17]. His result reads:
K(q
, q
; T)
=
q(t
)=q
_
q(t
)=q
g D
DeW
q(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
g
ab
(q) q
a
q
b
V (q) + h
2
R
6m
_
dt
_
:= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
N1
j=1
_
_
g(q
(j)
) dq
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
g
ab
(q
(j1)
)q
a,(j)
q
b,(j)
V (q
(j1)
) +
h
2
6m
R(q
(j1)
)
_
_
_
_
(1.7)
(R = g
ab
(
c
ab,c
c
cb,a
+
d
ab
c
cd
d
cb
c
ad
) - scalar curvature;
a
bc
= g
ad
(g
bd,c
+g
dc,b
g
bc,d
) - Christoel symbols). Of course, we identify q
= q
(0)
and q
= q
(N)
in the
limit N . Two comments are in order:
1) Equation (1.7) has the form of equation (1.6) but the corresponding S =
_
Ldt
is not the classical action, respectively the Lagrangian L is not the classical
Lagrangian L(q, q) =
m
2
g
ab
q
a
q
b
V (q), but rather an eective one:
S
eff
=
_
L
eff
dt
_
(L
cl
V
DeW
)dt. (1.8)
The quantum correction V
DeW
=
h
2
6m
R is indispensible in order to derive from
the time evolution equation (1.3) the Schrodinger equation (1.1) (e.g. [24]). The
appearance of a quantum correction V is a very general feature for path integrals
dened on curved manifolds; but, of course, V h
2
depends on the lattice
denition.
2) A specic lattice denition has been chosen. The metric terms in the action are
evaluated at the prepoint q
(j1)
. Changing the lattice denition, i.e. evaluation
of the metric terms at other points, e.g. the postpoint q
(j)
or the mid-point
q
(j)
:=
1
2
(q
(j)
+q
(j1)
) changes V , because in a Taylor expansion of the relevant
terms, all terms of O() contribute to the path integral. This fact is particularly
important in the expansion of the kinetic term in the Lagrangian, where we have
4
q
(j)
/ O().
One of the basics requirements of the construction of the path integral is Trotters
[93] product formula. Discussions and proofs can be found in many textbooks on
functional integration and functional analysis (e.g. Reed and Simon [85], Simon [87]).
Let us shortly notice a simple proof [87] :
Theorem: Let A and B be selfadjoint operators on a separable Hilbert space so that
A+B, dened on D(A) . . . D(B), is selfadjoint. Then
e
i T(A+B)
= s-lim
N
_
e
i tA/N
e
i tB/N
_
N
. (1.9)
6
II.1 The Feynman Path Integral
If furthermore, A and B are bounded from below, then
e
t(A+B)
= s-lim
N
_
e
tA/N
e
tB/N
_
N
. (1.10)
Proof ([80,87]): Let S
T
= e
i T(A+B)
, V
T
= e
i TA
, W
T
= e
i TB
, U
T
= V
T
W
T
, and
let
T
= S
T
for some H, with underlying Hilbert space H. Then
(S
T
U
N
T/N
) =
_
_
_
_
_
N1
j=0
U
j
T/N
(S
T/N
U
T/N
)
Nj1
_
_
_
_
_
N sup
0sT
(S
T
U
T/N
). (1.11)
Let D(A) D(B). Then s
1
(S
s
1) i(A+ B) for s 0 and
U
s
1
s
= V
s
(i B) + V
s
_
W
s
1
s
i B
_
+
V
s
1
s

i B + i A + 0 (1.12)
hence
lim
N
_
N(S
T/N
U
T/N
)
_
0, for each D(A) D(B). (1.13)
Now let D denote D(A) D(B) with the norm (A + B) +
A+B
.
By hypothesis, D is a Banach space. With the calculations of equations (1.11-
1.13), {N(S
t/N
U
t/N
)} is a family of bounded operators from D to H with
sup
N
{N(S
T/N
U
T/N
)} < for each . As a result, the uniform boundedness
principle implies that
N(S
T/N
U
T/N
) C
A+B
(1.14)
for some positive C. Therefore the limit (1.14) is uniform over compact subsets of
D. Now let D. Then s
s
is a continuous map from [0, T] into D, so that
{
s
|0 s T} is compact in D. Thus the right-hand side of equation (1.14) goes to
zero as N The proof of equation (1.10) is similar.
7
General Theory
The conditions on the operators A and B can be weakened with the requirement
that they are fulll some positiveness and possesses a particular self-adjoint exten-
sion.
Thus we see that ordering prescriptions in the quantum Hamiltonian and corre-
sponding lattice formulations in the path integral are closely related (compare also
[22, 23]). This can be formulated in a systematic way (e.g. [68] ):
We consider a monomial in coordinates and momenta (classical quantities)
M(n, m) = q
1
. . . q
n
p
1
. . . p
m
(1.15)
We want to have a correspondence rule according to
exp
_
i
h
(uq +vp)
_
D
(u, v; q
, p
) (u, v) exp
_
i
h
(uq
+ vp
)
_
(1.16)
to generate operators q
, p
from coordinates q, p. This produces the mapping

M(n, n)
1
i
n+m
n+m
D
(u, v; q
, p
)
u
1
. . . u
n
v
1
. . . v
u=v=0
. (1.17)
Some better known examples are displayed in the following table
Correspondence Rule (u, v) Ordering Rule
Weyl 1
1
2
n
n
l=0
_
n
l
_
q
nl
p
m
q
l
Symmetric cos
u v
2
1
2
(q
n
p
m
+ p
m
q
n
)
Standard exp
_
i
u v
2
_
q
n
p
m
Anti-Standard exp
_
i
u v
2
_
p
m
q
n
Born-Jordan sin
u v
2
_
u v
2
1
m + 1
n
l=0
p
ml
q
n
p
l
We can make this correspondence explicit. Let us consider the Fourier integral
A(p, q) =
_

A(u, v) exp
_
i
h
(uq +ivp)
_
dudv
A(u, v) =
1
(2h)
D
_
A(p, q) exp
_
i
h
(uq +ivp)
_
dpdq
(1.18)
We dene the operator A
(p
, q
) via
A
(p
, q
) =
_

A(u, v)(u, v) exp
_
i
h
(uq
+ ivp
)
_
dudv, (1.19)
8
II.2 Weyl-Ordering
which gives
A
(p
, q
) =
1
(2h)
D
_
A(p, q)(u, v) exp
_
i
h
u(q q
)
i
h
v(pp
)
_
dudvdpdq. (1.20)
The inverse transformation is denoted by A
(p, q) and has the form

A
(p, q) =
1
(2h)
D
Tr
_
A
(p
, q
)[(u, v)]
1
exp
_
i
h
u(q q
)+i
i
h
v(pp
)
_
dudv. (1.21)
In particular, the -function has the correspondence operator
(p p
, q q
) =
1
(2h)
D
_
(u, v) exp
_
i
h
u(q q
)
i
h
v(p p
)
_
dudv. (1.22)
Let us turn to the Hamiltonian. Given a classical Hamiltonian H
cl
(p, q) the
quantum Hamiltonian is calculated as
H
(p
, q
) =
_
exp
_
i
h
up
+
i
h
vq
_
(u, v)

H
cl
(u, v)dudv
H
cl
(u, v) =
1
(2h)
2D
_
exp
_
i
h
up
i
h
uq
_
H
cl
(p, q)dpdq.
(1.23)
Obviously, by proposing a particular classical Hamiltonian depending on variables q
and q
, respectively, produces a particular Hamiltonian function,

H(p, q
, q
) =
1
(2h)
D
_
(q
, y) e
ivy/ h
H
cl
[p,
1
2
(q
+q
) v]dudv (1.24)
For = 1 and = cos
uv
2
, respectively, we obtain Hamiltonian functions according to
H(p, q
, q
) = H(p,
1
2
(q
+ q
))
H(p, q
, q
) =
1
2
[H
cl
(p, q
) +H
cl
(p, q
)]
(1.25)
which are the matrix elements
< q
|H
(p
, q
)|q
> (1.26)
of the quantum Hamiltonians which are Weyl- and symmetrically ordered, respectively.
Choosing (u, v) = exp[i(1 2u)uv] [54] yields
H(p, q; u) =
q
2m
g
ab
(q)p
a
p
b
+
i h
m
(
1
2
u)p
a
g
ab
,b
h
2
2m
(
1
2
u)
2
g
ab
,ab
+V
Weyl
. (1.27)
with the well-dened quantum potential
V
Weyl
=
h
2
8m
(g
ab
d
ac
c
bd
R) =
h
2
8m
_
g
ab
b
+ 2(g
ab
a
)
,b
+g
ab
,ab
_
(1.28)
u =
1
2
corresponds to the Weyl prescription and is clearly emphazised.
In the next two Sections we discuss two particular ordering prescriptions and the
corresponding matrix elements which will appear as the relevant quantities to be used
in path integrals on curved spaces, it will be the Weyl-ordering prescription (leading
to the midpoint rule in the path integral) and a product ordering (leading to a product
rule in the path integral).
Another approach due to Kleinert [63, 64] I will not discuss here.
9
General Theory
2. Weyl-Ordering
A very convenient lattice prescription is the mid-point denition, which is connected to
the Weyl-ordering prescription in the Hamiltonian H. Let us discuss this prescription
in some detail. First we have to construct momentum operators [83]:
p
a
=
h
i
_

q
a
+

a
2
_
,
a
=
ln
g
q
a
(2.1)
which are hermitean with respect to the scalar product (f
1
, f
2
) =
_
f
1
f
g dq. In
terms of the momentum operators (2.1) we rewrite the quantum Hamiltonian H by
using the Weyl-ordering prescription [49,69,72]
H(p, q) =
1
8m
(g
ab
p
a
p
b
+ 2p
a
g
ab
p
b
+p
a
p
b
g
ab
) + V
Weyl
(q) + V (q). (2.2)
Here a well-dened quantum correction appears which is given by [49,72,81]:
V
Weyl
=
h
2
8m
(g
ab
d
ac
c
bd
R) =
h
2
8m
_
g
ab
b
+ 2(g
ab
a
)
,b
+g
ab
,ab
_
(2.3)
The Weyl-ordering prescription is the most discussed ordering prescription in the
literature. Let us start by dening it for powers of position- and momentum- operators
q
and p
, respectively [69]:
(q
m
p
r
)
Weyl
=
_
1
2
_
m m
l=0
m!
l!(ml)!
q
ml
p
r
q
l
, (2.4)
with the matrix elements (one-dimensional case)
< q
|(q
m
p
r
)
Weyl
|q
> =
_
1
2
_
m m
l=0
m!
l!(ml)!
q
ml
< q
|p
r
|q
> q
l
=
_
dp
(2h)
D
p
r
e
i p(q
)/ h
_
q
+ q
2
_
m
(2.5)
and all coordinate dependent quantities turn out to be evaluated at mid-points. Here
was used that the matrix elements of the position |q > and momentum eigen-states
|p > have the property
< q
|q
>= (g
)
1/4
(q
), < q|p >= (2h)

D/2
e
i pq/ h
. (2.6)
This power rule is nothing but a special case of a more general prescription. Of course,
well behaved operator valued functions are included.
We have the Weyl-transform of an operator A(p
, q
) as [72]:
A(p, q)
_
dv e
i pv
< q
v
2
|A
(p
, q
)|q +
v
2
>, (2.7)
10
II.2 Weyl-Ordering
with the inverse transformation
A
(p
, q
) =
1
(2h)
D
_
dpdqA(p, q)(p, q)
(p
, q
) =
_
du e
i pu
|p
u
2
>< p +
u
2
|.
(2.8)
Let us consider some simple examples. First of all for some operator f(p
)
_
dv e
i pv/ h
< q
v
2
|f(p
)|q +
v
2
>
=
_
dvdp
e
i pv/ h
< q
v
2
|f(q
)|p
>< p
|q +
v
2
>
=
1
(2h)
D
_
dvdp
e
i(pp
)v/ h
f(p
) = f(p). (2.9)
Hence (and similarly)
f(p
) f(p), f(q
) f(q). (2.10)
Straightforwardly one shows the following correspondence
F(q
)p
i
g
ij
(q
)p
j
F(q
)
p
i
p
j
F
2
(q)g
ij
+
1
2
_
1
2
F
2
(q)g
ij
,ij
(q) +F
,i
(q)F
,j
(q)g
ij
(q) F
,ij
(q)F(q)g
ij
(q)
_
(2.11)
Special cases are
p
i
p
j
F(q
)
_
p
i
i h
2
q
i
__
p
j

i h
2
q
j
_
F(q)
p
i
F(q
)p
j

_
p
i
i h
2
q
i
__
p
j
+
i h
2
q
j
_
F(q)
p
i
F(q
)p
j

_
p
i
+
i h
2
q
i
__
p
j
+
i h
2
q
j
_
F(q).
(2.12)
For the case that F(q) is some symmetric N N matrix we have
1
4
_
p
i
p
j
F
ij
(q
) + 2p
i
F
ij
(q
)p
j
+ F
ij
(q
)p
i
p
j
_
p
i
p
j
F
ij
(q). (2.13)
There is, of course, a one-to-one correspondence between the function A(p, q) and the
operator A(p
, q
), called Weyl-correspondence. It gives a prescription how Weyl-

ordered operators can be constructed by the classical counterpart. Starting now
with an operator A, the Weyl-correspondence gives an unique prescription for the
11
General Theory
construction of the path integral. We have for the Feynman kernel for an arbitrary
N N[which is due to the semi-group property of U(T), i.e. U(t
1
+t
2
) = U(t
1
)U(t
2
)]:
K(q
, q
; T) =
_
q
exp
_
i
h
H
(p
, q
)
_
_
=
_
_
N1
j=1
_
_
g
(j)
dq
(j)
_
_
N
j=1
_
q
(j)
exp
_
i
h
T
N
H
(p
, q
)
_
q
(j1)
_
. (2.14)
Observing
< q
|(p
, q
)|q
> =
_
du e
i uq
< q
|p
u
2
>< p +
u
2
|q
>
=
1
(2h)
D
_
du exp
_
i
h
p(q
) +
i
h
u
_
q
q
+ q
2
__
= e
i p(q
)/ h
_
q
q
+q
2
_
(2.15)
and making use of the Trotter formula e
i t(A+B)
= slim
N
_
e
i tA/N
e
i tB/N
_
N
and the short-time approximation for the matrix element < q
| e
i H
|q
>:
< q
(j)
| exp
_
i H
(p
, q
)/h
_
|q
(j1)
>
=
1
(2h)
D
< q
(j)
_
dpdq e
i h(p,q)/ h
_
dudv exp
_
i(q q
)u+i(pp
)v
q
(j1)
>
=
1
(2h)
D
_
dp exp
_
i
h
p(q
(j)
q
(j1)
)
i
h
H(p, q
(j)
)
_
, (2.16)
where q
(j)
=
1
2
(q
(j)
+ q
(j1)
) is the mid-point coordinate.
Let us consider the classical Hamilton-function
H
cl
(p, q) =
1
2m
g
ab
(q)
_
p
a
A
a
(q)
_
p
b
A
b
(q)
+ V (q). (2.17)
The corresponding quantum mechanical operator is not clearly dened due to the
factor ordering ambiguity. Let us try the manifestly hermitean operator
H(p
, q
) =
1
2m
g
1
4
_
p
a
A
a
(q
g
1
2
(q
)g
ab
(q
)
_
p
b
A
a
(q
1
4
(q
) + V (q
). (2.18)
The Weyl-transformed of H reads
H(p, q) = H
cl
(p, q) +
h
2
2m
_
1
4
g
1
2
_
g
1
2
g
ab
_
,ab
+
1
2
_
g
1
4
_
,a
_
g
1
4
_
,b
g
1
2
g
ab
1
2
_
g
1
4
_
,ab
g
1
4
g
ab
_
12
II.2 Weyl-Ordering
= H
cl
(p, q) +
h
2
8m
_
m
la
l
mb
g
ab
R
= H
cl
(p, q) +
h
2
8m
_
g
ab
b
+ 2(g
ab
a
)
,b
+ g
ab
,ab
_
(2.19)
and, of course, V
Weyl
appears again. For the path integral all quantities have to
be evaluated at q
(j)
. Note: The Weyl-transformed of the the Weyl-ordered operator
(2.16) is just the classical Hamiltonian (2.17). Inserting all quantities in equation
(2.13) we obtain the Hamiltonian path integral:
K(q
, q
; T) = [g(q
)g(q
)]
1
4
lim
N
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
j=1
_
dp
(j)
(2h)
D
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
q
(j)
p
(j)
H
eff
(p
(j)
, q
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
. (2.20)
The eective Hamiltonian to be used in the path integral (2.20) reads,
H(p, q) = H
eff
(p
(j)
, q
(j)
) =
1
2m
g
ab
( q
(j)
)p
(j)
a
p
(j)
b
+ V ( q
(j)
) + V
Weyl
( q
(j)
). (2.21)
With the help of the famous Gaussian integral
_

e
p
2
x
2
qx
dx =
p
exp
_
q
2
4p
2
_
(2.22)
and, respectively, by its D-dimensional generalization
_
R
n
dp e
iqp
1
2
g
ab
p
a
p
b
= (2)
D/2
_
det(g
ab
) exp
_
1
2
g
ab
q
a
q
b
_
, (2.23)
we get by integrating out the momenta the Lagrangian path integral which reads
(MP = Mid-Point):
K(q
, q
; T) = [g(q
)g(q
)]
1
4
q(t
)=q
_
q(t
)=q
g D
MP
q(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
L
eff
(q, q)dt
_
:= [g(q
)g(q
)]
1
4
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_ND
2
_
_
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
_
_
j=1
_
g( q
(j)
) exp
_
i
h
_
m
2
g
ab
( q
(j)
)q
a,(j)
q
b,(j)
V ( q
(j)
) V
Weyl
( q
(j)
)
__
.
(2.24)
13
General Theory
Equation (2.24) is, of course, equivalent with equation (1.7). The mid-point pre-
scription arises here in a very natural way, as a consequence of the Weyl-ordering
prescription. This is a general feature that ordering prescriptions lead to specic
lattices and that dierent lattices dene dierent V .
To proof that the path integral (2.24) is indeed the correct one, one has to show
that with the corresponding short time kernel
K(q
(j)
, q
(j1)
; ) =
_
m
2 i h
_
D/2
[g(q
(j1)
)g(q
(j)
)]
1
4
_
g( q
(j)
)
exp
_
i
h
_
m
2
g
ab
( q
(j)
)q
a,(j)
q
b,(j)
V ( q
(j)
) V
Weyl
( q
(j)
)
__
. (2.25)
and the time evolution equation (1.3) the Schrodinger equation (1.1) follows. For this
purpose a Taylor expansion has to performed in equation (1.3) yielding
(q
, t) +
(q
; t)
t
= B
0
(q
; t) +B
q
b
(q
; t)
q
b
+ B
q
a
q
b
2
(q
; t)
q
b
q
a
+ . . . , (2.26)
where the coecients in the expansion are given by
B
0
=
_
dq
_
g(q
)K(q
, q
; )
_
m
2 i h
_
D/2
g
1
4
(q
) e
i [V (q
)+V (q
)]/ h
_
dq
g
1
2
( q)g
1
4
(q
) exp
_
i m
2h
q
a
a
g
b
q
b
_
(2.27)
B
q
b =
_
dq
_
g(q
)K(q
, q
; )q
b
_
m
2 i h
_
D/2
g
1
4
(q
)
_
dq
g
1
2
( q)g
1
4
(q
) exp
_
i m
2h
q
a
a
g
b
q
b
_
q
b
(2.28)
B
q
a
q
b =
_
dq
_
g(q
)K(q
, q
; )q
a
q
b
_
m
2 i
_
D/2
g
1
4
(q
)
_
dq
g
1
2
( q)g
1
4
(q
) exp
_
i m
2h
q
a
a
g
b
g
b
_
q
a
q
b
(2.29)
From these representations it is clear that we need equivalence relations (in the sense
of path integrals) for q
a
q
b
etc. They are given by
q
a
q
b
=
i h
m
g
ab
(2.30)
q
a
q
b
q
c
q
d
=
_
i h
m
_
2
_
g
ab
g
cd
+g
ac
g
bd
+g
ad
g
bc
. (2.31)
14
II.2 Weyl-Ordering
q
a
q
b
q
c
q
d
q
e
q
f
=
_
i h
m
_
3
_
g
ab
g
cd
g
cd
+g
ac
g
bd
g
ef
+g
ad
g
bc
g
ef
+ g
ab
g
ce
g
df
+g
ab
g
cf
g
de
+ g
cd
g
ae
g
bf
+ g
cd
g
af
g
be
+ g
ac
g
be
g
df
+g
ac
g
bf
g
de
+ g
bd
g
ae
g
cf
+ g
bd
g
af
g
ce
+ g
ad
g
be
g
cf
+ g
ad
g
bf
g
ce
+ g
bc
g
ae
g
df
+ g
bc
g
af
g
de
_
.
(2.32)
We just show the identity (2.30), the proof of the remaining ones is similarly. Let us
consider the integral
I(g
cd
) =
_
dq exp
_
i m
2h
q
c
g
cd
q
d
_
=
_
m
2 i hg
(2.33)
with the g
cd
as free parameters. Dierentiation with respect to one of the parameters
gives on the one hand:
g
ab
I(g
cd
) =
i m
2h
_
dq exp
_
i m
2h
q
c
g
cd
q
d
_
q
a
q
b
(2.34)
and on the other
g
ab
I(g
cd
) =
_
m
2 i h
g
ab
g
1/2
=
1
2
_
m
2 i h
g
1/2
g
ab
=
1
2
g
ab
I(g
cd
). (2.35)
Here we have used the formula for the dierentiation of determinants: g/g
ab
= g g
ab
.
Combining the last two equations yield (2.30).
Let us denote by = q
and q = q
. The various Taylor expanded contributions

yield:
g
1/4
(q )g
1/2
(q ) g
3/4
(q)
_
1
a
a
+
1
8
(4
a
b
+ 3
a,b
)
a
b
_
.
(2.36)
exp
_
i m
2h
g
ab
(q )
a
b
_
exp
_
i m
2h
g
ab
(q)
a
b
_
_
1 +
m
2 i h
g
ab
b
cd
m
8 i h
_
g
av
v
bc,d
+g
au
a
vd
v
bc
+ g
uv
u
ad
v
bc
_
d
+
1
2
_
m
2 i h
_
2
g
av
g
du
v
bc
u
ef
f
_
. (2.37)
Here the various derivatives of the metric tensor g
ab
have been expressed by the
15
General Theory
Christoel symbols. Thus combining the last two equations yield:
g
1/4
(q )g
1/2
(q ) exp
_
i m
2h
g
ab
(q )
a
b
_
g
3/4
(q) exp
_
i m
2h
g
ab
(q)
a
b
_
_
1
_
a
+
m
2 i h
g
a
d
d
bc
_
c
+
1
2
_
m
2 i h
_
2
g
av
g
du
v
bc
u
ef
m
8 i h
_
g
av
v
bc,d
+g
au
a
vd
v
bc
+ g
uv
u
ad
v
bc
_
d
+
1
8
(4
a
b
+ 3
a,b
)
a
b
_
.
(2.38)
Let us start with the B
ab
-terms. We get immediately by equation (2.30):
B
ab
=
i h
2m
g
ab
. (2.39)
Similarly:
B
a
=
i h
2m
[
a
g
ab
+ (
a
g
ab
)] (2.40)
For the
2
- and
4
-terms in B
0
we get:
1
8
(4
a
b
+ 3
a,b
)
a
b
=
i h
8m
g
ab
(4
a
b
+ 3
a,b
), (2.41)
m
8 i h
_
g
av
v
bc,d
+g
au
a
vd
v
bc
+ g
uv
u
ad
v
bc
_
d
=
i h
8m
g
ab
_
8
a
b
+
c
ab,c
+ 2
a,b
+ g
uv
g
cd
(2
u
ad
v
bc
+
u
ab
v
cd
) + 5
c
ab
c
bd
+ 2
d
ac
c
bd
_
.
(2.42)
For the
6
-terms equation (2.32) yields
1
2
_
m
2 i h
_
2
g
av
g
du
v
bc
u
ef
f
=
i h
8m
g
ab
_
4
a
b
+ 4
c
ab
c
+ 4
d
ac
c
bd
+g
uv
g
cd
(2
u
ac
v
bd
+
u
ab
v
cd
)
_
. (2.43)
Therefore combining the relevant terms yields nally:
_
g
1/4
(q )g
1
2
(q

) exp
_
i m
2h
g
ab
(q

)
a
b
_
d
=
_
m
2 i h
_
D/2
_
1 +
i h
8m
g
ab
_
a,b
c
ab
c
+ 2
d
ac
c
bd
c
ab,c
_
_
=
_
m
2 i h
_
D/2
exp
_
i
h
V
Weyl
_
. (2.44)
16
II.3 Product-Ordering
Inserting all the contributions into equation (2.67) yields the Schrodinger equation
(1.1).
Let us emphasize that the above procedure is nothing but a formal proof of the
path integral. A rigorous proof must include at least two more ingredients
1) One must show that in fact
lim
N
|[e
i TH/ h
K(T)]| 0 (2.45)
for all H (H: relevant Hilbert space).
2) One must show that the domain D of the innitessimal generator of the kernel
K(T) is in fact identical with the domain of the Hamiltonian corresponding to
the Schr odinger equation (1.1), i.e. the innitessimal generator is the (selfadjoint)
Hamiltonian.
It is quite obvious that these strong mathematical requirements hold only under certain
assumptions on the potential involved in the Hamiltonian. Here Nelson [80] has shown
the validity of the path integral for one dimensional path integrals. Some instructive
proof can be furthermore found in the books of Simon [87] and Reed and Simon [85].
Also due to Albeverio et al. [1-3] is a wide range of discussion to formulate the Feynman
path integral without the delay of go back to the denition of Wiener integrals.
3. Product-Ordering
In order to develop another useful lattice formulation for path integrals we consider
again the generic case [43]. We assume that the metric tensor g
ab
is real and symmetric
and has rank(g
ab
) = D, i.e. we have no constraints on the coordinates. Thus one
can always nd a linear transformation C : q
a
= C
ab
y
b
such that L
Cl
=
m
2

ab
y
a
y
b
with
ab
= C
ac
g
cd
C
db
and where is diagonal. C has the form C
ab
= u
(b)
a
where
the u
(b)
(b {1, . . . , d}) are the eigenvectors of g
ab
and
ab
= f
2
c
ac
bc
where f
2
a
= 0
(a {1, . . . , d}) are the eigenvalues of g
ab
. Without loss of generality we assume f
2
a
> 0
for all a {1, . . . , d}. (For a time like coordinate q
a
one might have e.g. f
2
a
< 0, but
cases like this we want to exclude). Thus one can always nd a representation for g
ab
which reads,
g
ab
(q) = h
ac
(q)h
bc
(q). (3.1)
Here the h
ab
= C
ac
f
c
C
cb
= u
(a)
c
f
c
u
(b)
c
are real symmetric D D matrices and satisfy
h
ab
h
bc
=
c
a
. Because there exists the orthogonal transformation C equation (3.1)
yields for the y-coordinate system (denoted by M
y
):
ab
(y) = f
2
c
(y)
ac
bc
. (3.2)
equation (3.2) includes the special case g
ab
=
ab
. The square-root of the determinant
of g
ab
,
g and the Christoels

a
read in the q-coordinate system (denoted by M
q
):
g = det(h
ab
) =: h,
a
=
h
,a
h
, p
a
=
h
i
_

q
a
+
h
,a
2h
_
. (3.3)
17
General Theory
The Laplace-Beltrami-operator expressed in the h
ab
reads on M
q
:
M
q
LB
=
_
h
ac
h
bc

2
q
a
q
b
+
_
h
ac
q
a
h
bc
+h
ac
h
bc
q
a
+
h
,a
h
h
ac
h
bc
_

q
b
_
(3.4)
and on M
y
:
M
y
LB
=
1
f
2
a
_

2
y
2
a
+
_
f
b,a
f
b
2f
a,a
_

y
a
_
. (3.5)
With the help of the momentum operators (3.3) we rewrite the Hamiltonian in the
product-ordering form
H =
h
2
2m
M
q
LB
+ V (q) =
1
2m
h
ac
(q)p
a
p
b
h
bc
(q) +V (q) + V
Prod
(q), (3.6)
with the well-dened quantum correction
V
Prod
=
h
2
8m
_
4h
ac
h
bc
,ab
+2h
ac
h
bc
h
,ab
h
+2h
ac
_
h
bc
,b
h
,a
h
+h
bc
,a
h
,b
h
_
h
ac
h
bc
h
,a
h
,b
h
2
_
.
(3.7)
On M
y
the corresponding V
Prod
(y) is given by
V
Prod
(y) =
h
2
8m
1
f
2
a
__
f
b,a
f
b
_
2
4
f
a,aa
f
a
+ 4
f
a,a
f
a
_
2
f
a,a
f
a
f
b,a
f
b
_
+ 2
_
f
b,a
f
b
_
,a
_
. (3.8)
The expressions (3.7) and (3.8) look somewhat circumstantial, so we display a special
case and the connection to the quantum correction V
Weyl
which corresponds to the
Weyl-ordering prescription.
1) Let us assume that
ab
is proportional to the unit tensor, i.e.
ab
= f
2
ab
. Then
V
Prod
(y) simplies into
V
Prod
(y) = h
2
D2
8m
(4 D)f
2
,a
+ 2f f
,aa
f
4
. (3.9)
This implies: Assume that the metric has or can be transformed into the special
form
ab
= f
2
ab
. If the dimension of the space is D = 2, then the quantum
correction V
Prod
vanishes.
2) A comparison between (3.7) and (2.3) gives the connection with the quantum
correction corresponding to the Weyl-ordering prescription:
V
Prod
= V
Weyl
+
h
2
8m
_
2h
ac
h
bc
,ab
h
ac
,a
h
bc
,b
h
ac
,b
h
bc
,a
_
. (3.10)
In the case of equation (3.2) this yields:
V
Prod
(y) = V
Weyl
+
h
2
4m
f
2
a,a
f
a
f
a,aa
f
4
a
(3.11)
18
II.3 Product-Ordering
These equations often simplify practical applications.
Next we have to consider the short-time matrix element < q
| e
i TH
|q
> in or-
der to derive the path integral formulation corresponding to our ordering prescription
(3.6).
We proceed similar as in the previous section. We consider the short-time approxima-
tion to the matrix element [ = T/N, g
(j)
= g(q
(j)
)]:
< q
(j)
| e
i H/ h
|q
(j1)
>< q
(j)
|1 i H/h|q
(j1)
>
=
[g
(j)
g
(j1)
]
1
4
(2h)
D
_
e
ipq
(j)
dp
i h
2m
< q
(j)
|h
ac
p
a
p
b
h
bc
|q
(j1)
>
i
h
< q
(j)
|V + V
Prod
|q
(j1)
> . (3.12)
Therefore we get for the short-time matrix element ( 1):
< q
(j)
| e
i H/ h
|q
(j1)
>
[g
(j)
g
(j1)
]
1
4
(2h)
D
_
dp
exp
_
i
h
pq
(j)
i
2mh
h
ac
(q
(j)
)h
bc
(q
(j1)
)p
a
p
b
i
h
V (q
(j)
)
i
h
V
Prod
(q
(j)
)
_
.
(3.13)
The choice of the post point q
(j)
in the potential terms is not unique. A pre-
point, mid-point or a product-form-expansion is also legitimate. However,
changing from one to another formulation does not alter the path integral, because
dierences in the potential terms are of O(), i.e. of O(
2
) in the short-time Feynman
kernel and therefore do not contribute. The Trotter formula e
i T(A+B)
:= s
lim
N
(e
i TA/N
e
i TB/N
)
N
states that all approximations in equations (3.12) to
(3.13) are valid in the limit N and we get for the Hamiltonian path integral
in the product form-denition [h
(j)
ab
= h
ab
(q
(j)
)]:
K(q
, q
; T) = [g(q
)g(q
)]
1
4
lim
N
_
_
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
j=1
dp
(j)
(2h)
D
_
_
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
pq
(j)

2m
h
ac,(j)
h
bc,(j1)
p
(j)
a
p
(j)
b
V (q
(j)
) V
Prod
(q
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
.
(3.14)
Performing the momentum integrations we get for the Lagrangian path integral
19
General Theory
in the product form-denition: (PF=Product-Form)
K(q
, q
; T)
=
q(t
)=q
_
q(t
)=q
g D
PF
q(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
h
ac
h
bc
q
a
q
b
V (q) V
Prod
(q)
_
dt
_
:= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_ND
2
N1
j=1
_
_
g(q
(j)
) dq
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
h
(j)
ac
h
(j1)
bc
q
a,(j)
q
b,(j)
V (q
(j)
) V
Prod
(q
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
. (3.15)
In the last step we have to check that the Schrodinger equation (1.1) can be deduced
from the short-time kernel of equation (3.15). Because one can always transform from
the q-coordinates to the y-coordinates, which is a linear orthogonal transformation
and thus does not produce any quantum correction in the path integral (3.14) dened
on M
y
, we shall use in the following the representation of equation (3.2). Looking
at the Hamiltonian formulation of the path integral (3.14) we see that the unitary
transformation y = C
1
q changes the metric term p
a
h
ac
h
cb
p
b
p
a
ab
p
b
, i.e. in the
correct feature, the measure dq
(j)
dp
(j)
dy
(j)
dp
(j)
due to the Jacobean J = 1 so
that the Feynman kernel is transformed just in the right manner.
We restrict ourselves to the proof that the short-time kernels of equations (2.25)
and (3.15) are equivalent, i.e. we have to show ( y = (y
+ y
)/2):
[g(y
)g(y
)]
1
4
_
g( y) exp
_
i m
2h
ab
( y)y
a
y
b
i
h
V ( y) i hV
W
( y)
_
=exp
_
i m
2h
f
a
(y
)f
a
(y
)
2
y
a
i
h
V (y
) i hV
Prod
(y
_
. (3.16)
Clearly, e
i V ( y)/ h
=e
i V (y
)/ h
for the potential term. It suces to show that a
Taylor expansion of the g and the kinetic energy terms on the left-hand side of equation
(3.15) yield an additional potential
V given by
V (y) = V
Prod
(y) V
Weyl
(y) =
h
2
4m
f
2
a,a
(y) f
a
(y)f
a,aa
(y)
f
4
a
(y)
. (3.17)
We consider the g-terms on the left-hand side of equation (3.16) and expand them in
a Taylor-series around y
. This gives (
a
= (y
a
y
a
), f
a
(y
) f
a
):
[g(y
)g(y
)]
1
4
_
g( y)
_
1
1
8
f
c
f
c,ab
f
c,a
f
c,b
f
2
c
b
_
. (3.18)
Exploiting the path integral identity (2.30) we get by exponentiating the O()-terms,
[g(y
)g(y
)]
1
4
_
g( y) exp
_
i h
8m
f
a
f
a,bb
f
2
a,b
f
2
a
f
2
b
_
. (3.19)
20
II.4 Space-Time Transformation
Repeating the same procedure for the exponential term gives:
exp
_
i m
2h
ab
( y)
a
b
_
exp
_
i m
2h
f
a
(y
)f
a
(y
)
a
a
_
_
1
i
8m
(f
c
f
c,ab
f
c,a
f
c,b
)
a
c
_
. (3.20)
We use the identity (2.30) to get
exp
_
i m
2h
ab
( y)
a
b
_
exp
_
i m
2h
f
a
(y
)f
a
(y
)
a
a
_
exp
_
i h
8m
f
a
f
a,bb
f
2
a,b
f
2
a
f
2
b
+
i h
4m
f
a
f
a,aa
f
2
a,a
f
4
a
_
. (3.21)
Combining equations (3.20) and (3.21) yields the additional potential
V and
equation (3.16) is proven. Thus we conclude that the path integral (3.15) is well-
dened and is the correct path integral corresponding to the Schrodinger equation
(1.1).
A combination of lattice prescriptions were in the metric g
ab
in the kinetic term in
the exponential and in the determinant g dierent lattices are used exist also in the
literature. Let us note the result of McLaughlin and Schulman [70]:
K(q
, q
; T) = lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
N1
j=1
_
_
g(q
(j)
dq
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
g
ab
( q
(j)
)q
(j) a
q
(j) b
U( q
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
(3.22)
with the eective potential
U(q) = V (q)
e
c
A(q) q F(q), (3.23)
A(q) an additional vector potential term and F(q) given by
F(q) = h
2
F
abcd
_
g
ab
g
cd
+g
ac
g
bd
+g
ad
g
bc
_
F
abcd
=
1
48m
_
g
ab,cd
2g
ef
abe
cdf
_ (3.24)
[
abc
=
1
2
(g
ab,c
+ g
ac,b
g
bc,a
)]. According to DOlivio and Torres [21] the eective
potential can be rewritten as
U(q) = V (q)
e
c
A(q) q +
h
2
8m
_
R +g
ab
(
c
ad
d
bc
+
b
c
ac
)
_
. (3.25)
which is up the derivative term the result of Mizrahi [72].
21
General Theory
4. Space-Time Transformation
Let us consider a one-dimensional path integral
K(x
, x
; T) =
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
V (x)
_
dt
_
. (4.1)
It is now assumed that the potential V is so complicated that a direct evaluation of
the path integral is not possible. We want to describe a method how a transformed
path integral can be achieved to calculate K(T) or G(E), respectively, nevertheless.
This method is called space-time transformation. This technique was originally
developed by Duru and Kleinert [27,28]. It was further evolved by Steiner [90], Pak
and Sokmen [82], Inomata [59], Kleinert [62, 64] and Grosche and Steiner [49]. In the
rigorous lattice derivation of the following formul we follow ourselves [49] and Pak
and Sokmen [82].
Let us start by considering the Legendre-transformed of the general one-dimensional
Hamiltonian:
H
E
=
h
2
2m
_
d
2
dx
2
+ (x)
d
dx
_
+V (x) E (4.2)
which is hermitean with respect to the scalar product
(f
1
, f
2
) =
_
f
1
(x)f
2
(x)J(x)dx, J(x) = e
_
x
(x
)dx
. (4.3)
Introducing the momentum operator
p
x
=
h
i
_
d
dx
+
1
2
(x)
_
, (x) =
d lnJ(x)
dx
(4.4)
H
E
can be rewritten as
H
E
=
p
2
x
2m
+V (x) +
h
2
8m
[
2
(x) + 2
(x)] E (4.5)
with the corresponding path integral
K
E
(x
, x
; T) = e
i TE/ h
K(x
, x
; T), (4.6)
where K(T) denotes the path integral of equation (4.1).
Let us consider the space-time transformation
x = F(q), dt = f(x)ds (4.7)
with new coordinate q and new time s. Let G(q) = [F(q)], then
H
E
=
h
2
2m
1
F
2
(q)
_
d
2
dq
2
+
_
G(q)F
(q)
F
(q)
F
(q)
_
d
dq
_
+ V [F(q)] E. (4.8)
22
With the constraint f[F(q)] = F
2
(q) we get for the new Hamiltonian

H = f

H
E
:
H =
h
2
2m
_
d
2
dq
2
+
_
G(q)F
(q)
F
(q)
F
(q)
_
d
dq
_
+f[F(q)][V (F(q)) E]
=
h
2
2m
_
d
2
dq
2
+

(q)
d
dq
_
+f[F(q)][V (F(q)) E],
(4.9)
where

(q) = G(q)F
(q) F
(q)/F
(q). The corresponding measure in the scalar

product and the hermitean momentum are
p
q
=
h
i
_
d
dq
+
1
2
(q)
_
, J(q) =
_
g(q) = e
_
q
(q
)dq
. (4.10)
The Hamiltonian

H expressed in the position- q and momentum operator p
q
is
H =
p
q
2m
+ f[F(q)][V (F(q))
E
] + V (q) (4.11)
with the well-dened quantum potential
V (q) =
h
2
8m
_
3
_
F
(q)
F
(q)
_
2
2
F
(q)
F
(q)
+
_
G(q)F
(q)
_
2
+ 2G
(q)F
(q)
_
. (4.12)
Note that for G 0, V is proportional to the Schwartz derivative of the transfor-
mation F. The path integral corresponding to the Hamiltonian

H is
K(q
, q
; s
) =
q(t
)=q
_
q(t
)=q
Dq(s)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
q
2
f[F(q)][V (F(q)) E] V (q)
_
ds
_
. (4.13)
As it is easily checked it is possible to derive from the short time kernel of equation
(4.13) via the time evolution equation
(q
; s) =
_

K(q
, q
; s
(q
; s)dq
(4.14)
the time dependent Schrodinger equation
H
(q; s) = i h

s
(q; s). (4.15)

The crucial point is now, of course, the rigorous lattice derivation of

K(s
) and the
relation between

K(s
) and K(T). It turns out that

K is given in terms of K(T) by
the equations
K(x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

e
i TE/ h
G(x
, x
; E)dE
G(x
, x
; E) = i[f(x
)f(x
)]
1
4
_

0
K(q
, q
; s
)ds
.
(4.16)
23
General Theory
This we want to justify!
Let us consider the path integral K(T) in its lattice denition
K(x
, x
; T) = lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
N1
j=1
_
dx
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
(x
(j)
x
(j1)
)
2
V ( x
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
. (4.17)
We consider a D-dimensional path integral. To transform the coordinates x into
the coordinates q we use the midpoint prescription expansion method. It reads that
one has to expand any dynamical quantity in question F(q) which is dened on the
points q
(j)
and q
(j1)
of the j
th
-interval in the lattice version about the midpoints
q
(j)
=
1
2
(q
(j)
+ q
(j1)
) maintaining terms up to order (q
(j)
q
(j1)
)
3
. This gives:
F(q
(j)
) F(q
(j)
) F(q
(j1)
) = F
_
q
(j)
+
q
(j)
2
_
F
_
q
(j)
q
(j)
2
_
= q
(j)
m
F(q)
q
m
q= q
(j)
+
1
24
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
q
(j)
k
3
F(q)
q
m
q
n
q
k
q= q
(j)
+ . . . .
(4.18)
Introducing the abbreviations
F
(j)
,m

F(q)
q
m
q= q
(j)
, F
(j)
,mnk

3
F(q)
q
m
q
n
q
k
q= q
(j)
(4.19)
we get therefore
2
F
(j)
=
_
q
(j)
m
F
(j)
,m
+
1
24
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n

(j)
k
F
(j)
,mnk
_
2
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,n
+
1
12
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
q
(j)
k
q
(j)
l
F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,nkl
=q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,n
+
1
12
_
i h
m
_
2
F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,nkl
F
1
mnkl
(q
(j)
) (4.20)
according to equation (2.30) with the abbreviation
F
1
mnkl
(q
(j)
) = (F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,n
)
1
(F
(j)
,k
F
(j)
,l
)
1
+ (F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,k
)
1
(F
(j)
,l
F
(j)
,n
)
1
+ (F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,l
)
1
(F
(j)
,k
F
(j)
,n
)
1
. (4.21)
Furthermore we have to transform the measure. Because
N1
j=1
dx
(j)
=
N1
j=1
F(q
(j)
)
q
(j)
dq
(j)
N1
j=1
F
;q
(q
(j)
)dq
(j)
(4.22)
24
does not have a symmetric look, we must expand about q
(j)
. We get:
N1
j=1
dx
(j)
=
_
F
;q
(q
)F
;q
(q
1/2
N1
j=1
dq
(j)
N
j=1
_
F
;q
(q
(j)
)F
;q
(q
(j1
)
1
2
_
F
;q
(q
)F
;q
(q
1/2
N1
j=1
dq
(j)
N
j=1
F
;q
( q
(j)
)
_
1
1
8
_
F
;q,m
( q
(j)
)F
;q,n
( q
(j)
)
F
2
;q
( q
(j)
)

F
;q,mn
( q
(j)
)
F
;q
( q
(j)
)
_
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
_
=
_
F
;q
(q
)F
;q
(q
1
2
N1
j=1
dq
(j)
N
j=1
F
;q
( q
(j)
)
exp
_
i h
8m
(F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,n
)
1
_
F
;q,m
( q
(j)
)F
;q,n
( q
(j)
)
F
2
;q
( q
(j)
)

F
;q,mn
( q
(j)
)
F
;q
( q
(j)
)
__
(4.23)
Thus we have the coordinate transformed path integral
K(q
, q
; T)
= [F
;q
(q
)F
;q
(q
)]
1/2
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
j=1
F
;q
( q
(j)
) exp
_
i
h
_
m
2
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
F
,m
( q
(j)
)F
,n
( q
(j)
) V ( q
(j)
)
h
2
8m
(F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,n
)
1
_
F
;q,m
( q
(j)
)F
;q,n
( q
(j)
)
F
2
;q
( q
(j)
)

F
;q,mn
( q
(j)
)
F
;q
( q
(j)
)
_
h
2
8m
F
(j)
,m
F
(j)
,nkl
F
1
mnkl
(q
(j)
)
___
(4.24)
This path integral has the canonical form (2.24). In order to see this note that
the factor F
,m
( q
(j)
)F
,n
( q
(j)
) in the dynamical term can be interpreted as a metric
g
nm
appearing in an eective Lagrangian. Thus we can rewrite the transformed
Lagrangian in terms of this metric (Gervais and Jevicki [38]): Firstly, we have
F
;q
(q) =
_
det(g
nm
(q))
_
g(q). In the expansion of the determinant about the
midpoints we then get
[F
;q
(q
(j)
)F
;q
(q
(j1
)
1/2
_
q( q
(j)
)
_
1 +
1
16
_
g
mn
( q
(j)
)g
mn,kl
+g
mn
,k
( q
(j)
)g
mn,l
( q
(j)
)
_
q
(j)
k
q
(j)
k
_
. (4.25)
Using now successively the identities
g
,l
(q)
g(q)
= g
mn
(q)g
mn,l
(q), F
m
,kl
(q) =
m
kl
(q)F
m
,l
(q),
m
ml,k
(q) =
1
2
_
g
,l
(q)
g(q)
_
,k
(4.26)
25
General Theory
we can cast the quantum potential into the form
V (q) =
h
2
8m
g
mn
(q)
k
lm
(q)
l
km
(q) (4.27)
which is just the Weyl-ordering quantum potential without curvature term. In the
present case the curvature vanishes since we started in at Euclidean space which
remains at during the transformation.
In particular equation (4.24) takes in the one-dimensional case the form [F
dF/dq]:
K(q
, q
; T) = [F
(q
)F
(q
)]
1
2
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
N/2
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
j=1
F
( q
(j)
) exp
_
i
h
_
m
2h
q
(j)
m
q
(j)
n
F
2
( q
(j)
) V ( q
(j)
)
h
2
8m
F
2
( q
(j)
)
F
4
( q
(j)
)
__
(4.28)
which is the same result as taking for D = 1 in V
Weyl
the metric tensor g
ab
= F
2
.
The innitesimal generator of the corresponding time-evolution operator is

H
E
. To
proceed further we perform a time transformation according to
dt = f(s)ds, s
= s(t
) = 0, s
= s(t
) (4.29)
and we make the choice f = F
2
. Translating this transformation into the discrete
notation requires special care. In accordance with the midpoint prescription we must
rst symmetrize over the interval (j, j 1) to prefer neither of the endpoints over the
other, i.e.
t
(j)
= = s
(j)
F
(q
(j)
)F
(q
(j1)
), s
(j)
= s
(j)
s
(j1)

(j)
. (4.30)
Expanding about midpoints yields

(j)
F
2
( q
(j)
)
_
1 +

2
q
(j)
4
_
F
( q
(j)
)
F
( q
(j)
)

_
F
( q
(j)
)
F
( q
(j)
)
_
2
__
. (4.31)
Insertion yields for each j
th
-term [identify V (x
(j)
) V [F(q
(j)
)] V (q
(j)
)]
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
N1
j=1
dx
(j)
j=1
exp
_
i
h
_
m
2
2
x
(j)
V (x
(j)
) + E
__
=
N1
j=1
F
(q
(j)
)dq
(j)
N
j=1
_
m
2 i h
_1
2
exp
_
i
h
_
m
2
_
F
2
( q
(j)
)
2
q
(j)
+
1
12
F
( q
(j)
)F
( q
(j)
)
4
q
(j)
_
V (x
(j)
) +E
__
26
=
_
F
(q
)F
(q
)
_
1
2
N1
j=1
dq
(j)
N
j=1
_
m
2 i
(j)
h
_1
2
j=1
exp
__
i
h
_
m
2
(j)
_
1 +

2
q
(j)
4
_
F
( q
(j)
)
F
( q
(j)
)

_
F
( q
(j)
)
F
( q
(j)
)
_
2
__
1
2
q
(j)
+

4
q
(j)
12
F
( q
(j)
)
F
( q
(j)
)
_
(j)
F
2
( q
(j)
)
_
V (q
(j)
) E
_
___
.
=
_
F
(q
)F
(q
)
_
1
2
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
N1
j=1
dq
(j)
exp
__
i
h
_
m
2
2
q
(j)
(j)
F
2
(q
(j)
)
_
V (q
(j)
) E
_
ih
8m
_
3
_
F
(q
(j)
)
F
(q
(j)
)
_
2
2
F
(q
(j)
)
F
(q
(j)
)
____
. (4.32)
Let us assume that the constraint
_
s
0
dsf[F(q(s))] = T (4.33)
has for all admissible path a unique solution s
> 0. Of course, since T is xed, the

time s
will be path dependent. To incorporate the constraint let us consider the

Green function G(E):
G(x
, x
; E) = i
_

0
dT e
i TE/ h
K(x
, x
; T)
K(x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
G(x
, x
; E).
(4.34)
This incorporation is far from being trivial, in particular the fact that the new time-
slicing
(j)
is treated in the same way as the old time-slicing , i.e.
(j)
is considered
as being xed, but can however be justied in a more comprehensive way, see e.g. [6,
35, 59]. We now observe that G(E) can be written e.g. in the following ways [62]:
G(x
, x
; E) = f(x
)
_

0
< x
| e
i s
f(x)(HE)/ h
|x
> ds
(4.35a)
= f(x
)
_

0
< x
| e
i s
(HE)f(x)/ h
|x
> ds
(4.35b)
=
_
f(x
)f(x
)
_

0
< x
| e
i s
f(x)(HE)
f(x)/ h
|x
> ds
.
(4.35c)
The last line give for the short-time matrix element in the usual manner
<x
(j)
| e
i
(j)
f
1
2 (x)(HE)f
1
2 (x)/ h
|x
(j1)
>
27
General Theory
< x
(j)
|1 i
(j)
f
1
2
(x)(H E)f
1
2
(x)/h|x
(j1)
>
=< x
(j)
|x
(j1)
>
i
(j)
h
_
f(x
(j)
)f(x
(j)
) < x
(j)
|H E|x
(j1)
>
=< F(q
(j)
)|F(q
(j1)
) >
i
(j)
h
_
f[F(q
(j)
)]f[F(q
(j)
)] < F(q
(j)
)|
H
E
|F(q
(j1)
) >
=< q
(j)
|q
(j1)
>
i
h
< q
(j)
|
H|q
(j1)
>
=
1
2
_
dp
q
exp
_
i
h
p
q
q
(j)
i
2mh
p
2
q
i
h
F
2
( q
(j)
)(V ( q
(j)
) E)
i
h
V ( q
(j)
)
_
=
_
m
2 i h
_1
2
exp
_
i m
2h
2
q
(j)

h
F
2
( q
(j)
)(V ( q
(j)
) E)

h
V ( q
(j)
)
_
,
(4.36)
where the well-dened quantum potential V is given by
V (q) =
h
2
8m
_
3
F
(q)
F
(q)
2
_
F
(q)
F
(q)
_
2
_
. (4.37)
Note that this quantum potential has the form of a Schwartz-derivative. This
procedure justies our symmetrization prescription of equations (4.30). Thus we arrive
nally at the transformation formul:
K(x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
G[F(q
), F(q
); E]
G[F(q
), F(q
); E] = i[F
(q
)F
(q
)]
1
2
_

0
ds

K(q
, q
; s
)
(4.38)
where the path integral

K(s
) is given by
K(q
, q
; s
) = lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_1
2
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
2
q
(j)
F
2
( q
(j)
)(V ( q
(j)
) E) V ( q
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
. (4.39)
This is exactly the path integral (4.13) and thus we have proven it. Note that only
for D = 1 we have the simple transformation property
i m
2

2
x
(j)
i m
2

2
q
(j)
. (4.40)
For higher dimensional problem this may only possible for one coordinate kinetic term.
Anyway, the requirement for higher dimensional problems are
F
;q
= F
,m
F
,n
(4.41)
28
II.5 Separation of Variables
for at least one pair (m, n) (1, . . . , D).
Finally we consider a pure time transformation in a path integral. We consider
equation (4.35c), i.e.
G(x
, x
; E) =
_
f(x
)f(x
)
_

0
ds
< q
| e
i s
f (HE)
f/ h
|q
>, (4.42)
where we assume that the Hamiltonian H is product ordered. Then
G(x
, x
; E)
=
_
f(x
)f(x
)
_

0
ds
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
N
j=1
< q
(j)
| e
i
f (HE)
f/ h
|q
(j1)
>
=
_
f(x
)f(x
)
(g
)
1
4
_

0
ds
lim
N
N1
j=1
_
dq
(j)
j=1
_
dp
(j)
(2h)
D
exp
_
i
h
_
p
(j)
q
(j)
_
f(q
(j)
)f(q
(j1)
)
_
h
ac
(q
(j1)
)h
bc
(q
(j)
)
2m
p
(j)
a
p
(j)
b
+V (q
(j)
) + V
Prod
(q
(j)
) E
___
= (f
)
1
2
(1D/2)
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
N1
j=1
_

g(q
(j)
)
f
D
(q
(j)
)
dq
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
h
ac
(q
(j1)
)h
bc
(q
(j)
)
_
f(q
(j1)
)f(q
(j)
)
q
a,(j)
q
b,(j)
i f(q
(j)
)
_
V (q
(j)
) + V
Prod
(q
(j)
) E
_
__
= (f
)
1
2
(1D/2)
_

0
K(q
, q
; s
)ds
(4.43)
with the path integral
K(q
, q
; s
) =
q(t
)=q
_
q(t
)=q
_
g D
PF
q(t)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
h
ac
h
cb
q
a
q
b
f
_
V (q) + V
Prod
(q) E
_
_
ds
_
. (4.44)
Here denote

h
ac
= h
ac
/
f and
g = det(
h
ac
) and equation (4.44) is of the canonical
product form. Note that for D = 2 the prefactor is one.
29
General Theory
5. Separation of Variables
Let us assume that the potential problem V (x) has an exact solution according to
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
V (x)
_
dt
_
=
_
dE
e
i E
T/ h
(x
(x
).
(5.1)
Here
_
dE
denotes a Lebesque-Stieltjes integral to include discrete as well as

continuous states. Now we consider the path integral
K(z
, z
, x
, x
; T)
=
z(t
)=z
_
z(t
)=z
f
d
(z)
d
i=1
g
i
(z)Dz
i
(t)
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
k=1
Dx
k
(t)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
_
t
_
_
m
2
_
_
d
i=1
g
i
(z) z
2
i
+ f
2
(z)
d
k=1
x
2
k
_
_
_
V (x)
f
2
(z)
+W(z) + W(z)
_
_
_
dt
_
_
_
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_ND
2
N1
j=1
_
f
d
(z
(j)
)
d
i=1
g
i
(z
(j)
)dz
(j)
i
_
d
k=1
dx
(j)
k
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
_
m
2
_
_
d
i=1
g
i
(z
(j1)
)g
i
(z
(j)
)
2
z
(j)
i
+ f(z
(j1)
)f(z
(j)
)
d
k=1
2
x
(j)
k
_
_
_
V (x
(j)
)
f
2
(z
(j)
)
+ W(z
(j)
) + W(z
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
_
_
. (5.2)
Here (z, x) (z
i
, x
k
) (i = 1, . . . , d
; k = 1, . . . , d, d
+ d = D) denote a D-dimensional
coordinate system, g
i
and f the corresponding metric terms, and W the quantum
potential. For simplicity I assume that the metric tensor g
ab
involved has only
diagonal elements, i.e. g
ab
= diag(g
2
1
(z), g
2
2
(z), . . . , g
2
d
(z), f
2
(z), . . . , f
2
(z)]. Of course,
det(g
ab
) = f
2d
i=1
g
2
i
f
2d
G(z). The indices i and k will be omitted in the following.
We perform the time transformation
s =
_
t
t
d
f
2
[z()]
, s
= s(t
), s(t
) = 0, (5.3)
where the lattice interpretation reads /[f(z
(j1)
)f(z
(j)
)] =
(j)
. Of course, we
identify z(t) z[s(t)] and x(t) x[s(t)]. The transformation formul for a pure time
transformation are now
K(z
, z
, x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i ET/ h
G(z
, z
, x
, x
; E) (5.4)
30
II.5 Separation of Variables
G(z
, z
, x
, x
; E) = i[f(z
)f(z
)]
1D/2
_

0
ds

K(z
, z
, x
, x
; s
),
(5.5)
where the transformed path integral

K(s
) is given by
K(z
, z
, x
, x
; s
)
=
z(s
)=z
_
z(0)=z
_
G(z)
f
2d
(z)
Dz(s)
x(s
)=x
_
x(0)=x
Dx(s)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
_
g
2
(z)
f
2
(z)
z
2
+ x
2
_
V (x) f
2
(z)
_
W(z) + W(z)
_
+ f
2
(z)E
_
ds
_
=
_
dE
e
i E
/ h
(x
(x
)

K(z
, z
; s
), (5.6)
with the remaining path integration
K(z
, z
; s
) =
z(s
)=z
_
z(0)=z
_
G(z)
f
2d
(z)
Dz(s)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
g
2
(z)
f
2
(z)
z
2
f
2
(z)
_
W(z) + W(z)
_
+f
2
(z)E
_
ds
_
. (5.7)
Of course, in the path integrals (5.6,5.7) the same lattice formulation is assumed as in
the path integral (5.2). Note the dierence in comparison with a combined space-time
transformation where a factor [f(z
)f(z
)]
1/4
would instead appear. We also see that
for D = 2 the prefactor is identically one. We perform a second time transformation
in

K(s
) eectively reversing the rst:

=
_
s
0
f
2
[z()]d,
= s
(5.8)
with the transformation on the lattice interpreted as
(j)
=
(j)
f(z
(j1)
)f(z
(j)
).
Therefore we obtain the transformation formul
K(z
, z
; s
) =
1
2 i h
_

dE
e
i E
/ h

G(z
, z
; E
) (5.9)
G(z
, z
; E
) = i[f(z
)f(z
)]
Dd
2
1
_

0
d
e
i E
/ h

K(z
, z
)
(5.10)
with the transformed path integral given by
K(z
, z
) =
z(
)=z
_
z(0)=z
_
G(z) Dz()
exp
_
i
h
_

0
_
m
2
g
2
(z) z
2
W(z) W(z) +
E
f
2
(z)
_
d
_
. (5.11)
31
General Theory
Plugging all the relevant formul into equation (5.5) yields
K(z
, z
, x
, x
; T) = [f(z
)f(z
)]
D/2
_
dE
(x
(x
1
2h
_

0
d
dE e
i E(
T)/ h
1
2h
_

dE
_

0
ds
e
i s
(E
+E
)/ h
z(
)=z
_
z(0)=z
_
G(z) Dz() exp
_
i
h
_

0
_
m
2
g
2
(z) z
2
W(z) W(z) +
E
f
2
(z)
_
d
_
.
(5.12)
The d
dE-integration produces just
T, whereas the dE
ds
-integration can be
evaluated by giving E
+E a small negative imaginary part and applying the residuum

theorem yielding E
. Therefore we arrive nally at the identity [45]

K(z
, z
, x
, x
; T) = [f(z
)f(z
)]
D/2
_
dE
(x
(x
z(t
)=z
_
z(t
)=z
_
G(z) Dz(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
g
2
(z) z
2
W(z) W(z)
E
f
2
(z)
_
dt
_
.
(5.13)
Note that this result can be short handed interpreted by inserting
_
m
2 i
(j)
h
_
D/2
exp
_
i
h
_
m
2
(j)
2
x
(j)
(j)
V (x
(j)
)
__
=
_
dE
(j) e
i E
(j)
(j)
/ h
(j)
(x
(j1)
)
(j) (x
(j)
) (5.14)
with
(j)
= /[f(z
(j1)
)f(z
(j)
)] for all j
th
and applying the orthonormality of the
in each j
th
-path integration. Equation (5.14) describes therefore a short-cut to
establish equation (5.12) instead of performing a time transformation back and forth.
32
III.1 The Free Particle
III Important Examples
In this Chapter I present some of the most important path integral solutions which
are
1) The free particle as a simple example.
2) The harmonic oscillator in its basic form, where we allow in addition a time
dependent frequency.
3) Path integration in polar coordinates. We shall discuss the various features of
properly dened path integrals including the Besselian functional measure.
In particular the (time-dependent) radial harmonic oscillator will be exactly
evaluated.
4) The Coulomb potential.
1. The Free Particle
For warming up we calculate the path integral for the free particle in an D-dimensional
Euclidean space. From the representation
K(x
, x
; T)
=
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i m
2 h
_
t
x
2
dt
_
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_ND
2
N1
j=1
_

dx
(j)
exp
_
_
i m
2h
N
j=1
_
x
(j)
x
(j1)
_
2
_
_
.
(1.1)
it is obvious that the various integrations separate into a D-dimensional product. All
integrals are Gaussian. Starting with ( = 1, . . . , D):
K
N=2
(x
(2)
, x
(0)
; 2)
=
_
m
2 i h
_
_

dx
(1)
exp
_
m
2 i h
(x
(2)
x
(1)
)
2
m
2 i h
(x
(1)
x
(0)
)
2
_
=
_
m
4 i h
exp
_
m
4 i h
(x
(2)
x
(0)
)
2
_
, (1.2)
it is easy to show that
K
N
(x
(N)
, x
(0)
; N) =
_
m
2 i hN
exp
_
m
2 i hN
(x
(N)
x
(0)
)
2
_
. (1.3)
33
Important Examples
Thus we get in the limit N (note N = T):
K(x
, x
; T) =
_
m
2 i hT
_
D/2
exp
_
i m
2 hT
(x
)
2
_
=
1
(2)
D
_

exp
_
i p(x
) i T
hp
2
2m
_
dp.
(1.4)
From this representation the normalized wave-functions and the energy spectrum can
be read o (p R
D
):
(x) =
e
i px
(2)
D/2
, E
p
=
p
2
h
2
2m
(x R
D
) (1.5)
which is the known result.
The corresponding energy-dependent Green function is given by (D = 1):
G
(1)
(x
, x
; E) = i
_

0
K(x
, x
; T) e
i ET/ h
dT =
_
m
2E
exp
_
i
|x
|
h
2mE
_
.
(1.6)
For the D-dimensional case we obtain
G
(D)
(x
, x
; E)
= 2 i
_
m
2 i h
_
D/2
_
m
2E
|x
|
2
_1
2
(1D/2)
K
1D/2
_
i
|x
|
2
h
2mE
_
(1.7)
= i
_
m
2 h
_
D/2
_
m
2
2E
|x
|
2
_1
2
(1D/2)
H
(1)
1D/2
_
|x
|
h
2mE
_
, (1.8)
where use has been made of the integral representation [40, p.340]
_

0
dt t
1
exp
_
a
4t
pt
_
= 2
_
a
4p
_
2
K
ap ), (1.9)
and K
(z) =
i
2
e
i /2
H
(1)
(i z), K
1
2
(z) =
_
/2z e
z
.
2. The Harmonic Oscillator
After this easy task we proceed to the path integral calculation of the harmonic
oscillator. We consider the simple one-dimensional case with the Lagrangian
L[x, x] =
m
2
x
2
c(t)
2
x
2
+ b(t)x x e(t)x (2.1)
34
III.2 The Harmonic Oscillator
Here we assume that the various coecients may be time-dependent. The path integral
has the form
K(x
, x
; t
, t
) =
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) e
i
h
S[x]
=
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) e
i
h
_
t
L[x, x]dt
(2.2)
In this quadratic Lagrangian, of course, an ordering problem appears. This is due to
the stochastic nature of the path integral, the time-integral in the exponent is not
a Riemann-integral but a so called Ito-integral. This we have already discussed in
chapter II. The ordering ambiguity appears in the b(t)-term, where we have in the
corresponding Hamiltonian a px-term. The consequence is that we have to use the
mid-point formulation, i.e. ( x
(j)
=
1
2
(x
(j)
+ x
(j1)
), and c
(j)
= c(t
(j)
), etc., see also
Schulmans book [86]):
K(x
, x
; t
, t
)
=
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
c(t)
2
x
2
+b(t)x x e(t)x
_
dt
_
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
N1
j=1
_

dx
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
_
x
(j)
x
(j1)
_
2
c
(j)
2
( x
(j)
)
2
+b
(j)
x
(j)
_
x
(j)
x
(j1)
_
e
(j)
x
(j)
_
_
_
_
.
(2.3)
In the following we use the notations in equations (2.2) and (2.3) as synonymous. Let
us expand the path x(t) about the classical path x
Cl
(t), i.e.:
x(t) = x
Cl
(t) +y(t),
where y(t) denotes a uctuating path about the classical one. The classical path
obeys, of course, the Euler Lagrange equations:
L[x
Cl
, x
Cl
]
x
Cl
=
d
dt
L[x
Cl
, x
Cl
]
x
Cl
L[x
Cl
, x
Cl
]
x
Cl
= 0, x
Cl
(t
) = x
, x
Cl
(t
) = x
Cl
.
(2.4)
Expanding we obtain for the action
S[x] = S[x
Cl
] +
1
2
2
S[x]
x
2
x=x
Cl
y
2
= S[x
Cl
(t
), x
Cl
(t
)] +
_
t
_
m
2
y
2
c
2
y
2
+ by y
_
dt.
(2.5)
35
Important Examples
The linear functional variation vanishes due to the Euler-Lagrange equations (2.4).
For the path integral we now nd
K(x
; t
, t
) = exp
_
i
h
S[x
Cl
(t
), x
Cl
(t
)]
_
F(t
, t
),
F(t
, t
) =
y(t
)=0
_
y(t
)=0
Dy(t) exp
_
i m
2 h
_
t
_
y
2
2
(t)y
2
_
dt
_
.
(2.6)
Here we have used the abbreviations m
2
(t) = c(t) +

b(t), y
= y(t
) and y
= y(t
).
Now
F(t
, t
) = lim
N
F
N
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
_

dy
(1)

_

dy
(N1)
exp
_
_
_
m
2 i h
N
j=1
_
(y
(j)
y
(j1)
)
2
(j) 2
y
(j) 2
_
_
_
_
(2.7)
Let us introduce a N 1-dimensional vector z = (x
1
, . . . , x
N1
)
T
and the (N 1)
(N 1) matrix B:
B =
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
2
(1) 2
1 . . . 0 0
1 2
2
(2) 2
. . . 0 0
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
0 0 . . . 2
2
(N2) 2
1
0 0 . . . 1 2
2
(N1) 2
_
_
_
_
_
_
. (2.8)
Thus we get
F
N
=
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
_
d
N1
z exp
_
m
2 i h
z
T
Bz
_
=
_
m
2 i hdet B
_1
2
. (2.9)
Therefore
F(t
, t
) =
_
m
2 i hf(t
, t
)
_1
2
, where f(t
, t
) = lim
N
det B. (2.10)
Our nal task is to determine det B. Let us consider the j j matrix
B
(j)
=
_
_
_
_
_
_
2
2
(1) 2
1 . . . 0 0
1 2
2
(2) 2
. . . 0 0
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
0 0 . . . 2
2
(j1) 2
1
0 0 . . . 1 2
2
(j) 2
_
_
_
_
_
_
(2.11)
36
One can show that the following recursion relations holds:
det B
(j+1)
= (2
2
(j+1) 2
) det B
(j)
det B
(j1)
with det B
(1)
= 2
2
(1) 2
and det B
(0)
= 1. Let us dene g
(j)
= det B
(j)
, then we
have
g
(j+1)
2g
(j)
+ g
(j1)
=
2
(j+1) 2
g
(j)
.
Turning to a continuous notation we nd for the function g(t) = f(t, t
) a dierential
equation:
g(t) +
2
(t)g(t) = 0, with g(t
) = 0, g(t
) = 1. (2.12)
The two last equation follow from g(t
) = g
0
= lim
0
det B
(0)
and g(t
) = lim
0
_
g(t
+ ) g(t
/ = lim
0
(det B
(1)
det B
(0)
) = 1. Finally we have to insert
g(t
) = f(t
, t
) into equation (2.10).

At once we recover the free particle with g = t
= T.
The case of the usual harmonic oscillator with (t) = (time-independent) is given
by
g(t) =
1
sin T.
To get the path integral solution for the harmonic oscillator we must calculate its
classical action. It is a straightforward calculation to show that it is given by:
S[x
Cl
(t
), x
Cl
(t
)] =
m
2 sin T
_
(x
2
Cl
+x
2
Cl
) cos T 2x
Cl
x
Cl
_
. (2.13)
and we have for the Feynman kernel:
K(x
, x
; T) =
_
m
2 i hsin T
_1
2
exp
_
m
2 i h
_
(x
2
+x
2
) cot T 2
x
sin T
__
. (2.14)
By the use of the Mehler-formula [31, Vol.III, p.272]:
e
(x
2
+y
2
)/2
n=0
1
n!
_
z
2
_
n
H
n
(x)H
n
(y) =
1
1 z
2
exp
_
4xyz (x
2
+ y
2
)(1 +z
2
)
2(1 z
2
)
_
,
(2.15)
where H
n
denote the Hermite-polynomials, we can expand the Feynman kernel
according to (identify x
_
m/hx
, y
_
m/hx
and z = e
i T
):
K(x
, x
; T) =
n=0
e
i TE
n
/ h
n
(x
)
n
(x
) (2.16)
with energy-spectrum and wave-functions:
E
n
= h(n +
1
2
), (2.17)
n
(x) =
_
m
2
2n
hn!
2
_1
4
H
n
__
m
h
x
_
exp
_
m
2 h
x
2
_
. (2.18)
37
Important Examples
Equation (2.14) is as it stands only valid for 0 < T < . Let us investigate it for
larger times. Let
T =
n
+ , with n N
0
; 0 < < / (2.19)
then we have sin T = e
i n
sin , cos T = e
i n
cos and equation (2.14) becomes
K(x
, x
; T) =
_
m
2hsin
_1
2
exp
_
i
2
_
1
2
+ n
_
+
i m
2 hsinT
_
(x
2
+x
2
) cos T 2x
_
_
(2.20)
which is the formula for the propagator with the Maslov correction (note sin =
| sinT|). Now let 0, i.e. we consider the propagator at caustics. We obtain
K
_
x
, x
;
n
_
= lim
0
_
m
2 i h
_1
2
exp
_
i n
2
+
i m
2 h
_
(x
2
+ x
2
) 2 e
i n
x
_
_
= lim
a0
1
a
exp
_
1
a
2
(x
(1)
n
x
)
2
i
n
2
_
= exp
_
i
2
n
_
(x
(1)
n
x
). (2.21)
Let us nally determine the energy dependent Green function. We use the integral
representation [40, p.729], a
1
> a
2
, (
1
2
+ ) > 0):
_

0
coth
2
x
2
exp
_
a
1
+ a
2
2
t cosh x
_
I
2
(t
a
1
a
2
sinh x)dx
=
(
1
2
+ )
t
a
1
a
2
(1 + 2)
W
,
(a
1
t)M
,
(a
2
t). (2.22)
Here W
,
(z) and M
,
(z) denote Whittaker-functions. We reexpress e
x
=
_
x/2
[I1
2
(x) +I
1
2
(x)] apply equation (2.22) for = E/2 h and use some relations between
Whittaker- and parabolic cylinder-functions to obtain
G(x
, x
; E) =
1
2
_
m
h

_
1
2

E
h
_
D
1
2
+
E
h
_
_
2m
h
(x
+ x
+|x
|)
_
D
1
2
+
E
h
_
_
2m
h
(x
+x
|x
|)
_
.
(2.23)
From this representation we can recover by means of the expansion for the -function
(z) =
n=0
(1)
n
n!(z + n)
+
_

1
e
t
t
z1
dt
38
and some relations of the parabolic cylinder-functions and the Hermite polynomials,
the wave-functions of equation (2.18).
Let us note that we can use equations (2.14, 2.23) to obtain recursion relations for
the Feynman kernel and the Green function, respectively, of the harmonic oscillator
in D dimensions. Let x R
n
and dene =

x
2
+

x
2
, = x
, then
K
(D)
(x
, x
; T) =
1
2
K
(D2)
(x
, x
; T)
=
1
2
e
i T
_
m
h
2

_
K
(D2)
(x
, x
; T). (2.24)
For the Green functions this gives
G
(D)
(x
, x
; E)

G
(D)
(|; E) (2.25)
G
(D)
(|; E) =
1
2
G
(D2)
(|; E) (2.26)
G
(D)
(|; E) =
1
2
_
m
h
2

G
(D2)
(|; E h) (2.27)
Introducing furthermore =
1
2
(|x
+x
| + |x
|), =
1
2
(|x
+x
| |x
|) we
obtain for D = 1, 3, 5 . . . .
G
(D)
(x
, x
; E) =
1
2
_
m
h

_
1
2

E
h
__
1
2
_
D1
2
_
1
2
_
__
D1
2
D
1
2
+
E
h
_
_
2m
h

_
D
1
2
+
E
h
_
_
2m
h

_
,
(2.28)
respectively,
G
(D)
(x
, x
; E) =
1
2
_
m
h

_
D
2

E
h
__
1
2
_
D1
2
_
1
2
_
_
+
m
h
_
D1
2
D
D
2
+
E
h
_
_
2m
h

_
D
D
2
+
E
h
_
_
2m
h

_
.
(2.29)
Let us note that the most general solution for the general quadratic Lagrangian is due
to Grosjean and Goovaerts [52, 53].
39
Important Examples
3. The Radial Path Integral
3.1. The General Radial Path Integral
Radial path integrals have been rst discussed by Edwards and Gulyaev [30] and
Arthurs [4]. Edwards and Gulyaev discussed the two- and three-dimensional cases,
Arthurs concentrated on D = 2. Further progress have been made by Peak and
Inomata [84] who calculated the path integral for the radial harmonic oscillator
including some simple applications. See also [49] for the ordering problematics
which give rise to the various quantum potentials in the formulation of the radial
path integral. In this section we derive the path integral for D-dimensional polar
coordinates. We follow in our line of reasoning references [49] and [92], where these
features have been rst discussed in their full detail. Similar topics can be also found
in Bohm and Junker [5] from a group theoretic approach. We will get an expansion
in the angular momentum l, where the angle dependent part can be integrated out
and a radial dependent part is left over: the radial path integral. We discuss some
properties of the radial path integral and show that it possible to get from the short
time kernel the radial Schrodinger equation.
The path integral in D-dimensions has the form:
K
(D)
(x
, x
; T)
=
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
V (x)
_
dt
_
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
_
dx
(1)

_
dx
(N1)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2h
(x
(j)
x
(j1)
)
2
V (x
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
. (3.1)
Now let V (x) = V (|x|) and introduce D-dimensional polar coordinates [31, Vol.II,
Chapter IX]:
x
1
= r cos
1
x
2
= r sin
1
cos
2
x
3
= r sin
1
sin
2
cos
3
. . .
x
D1
= r sin
1
sin
2
. . . sin
D2
cos
x
D
= r sin
1
sin
2
. . . sin
D2
sin
_
_
(3.2)
40
III.3.1 The Radial Path Integral
where 0
( = 1, . . . , D 2), 0 2, r =
_
D
=1
x
2
_
1/2
. Therefore
V (x) = V (r). We have to use the addition theorem:
cos
(1,2)
= cos
(1)
1
cos
(2)
1
+
D2
m=1
cos
(1)
m+1
cos
(2)
m+1
m
n=1
sin
(1)
n
sin
(2)
n
+
D1
n=1
sin
(1)
n
sin
(2)
n
, (3.3)
where
(1,2)
is the angle between two D-dimensional vectors x
(1)
and x
(2)
so that
x
(1)
x
(2)
= r
(1)
r
(2)
cos
(1,2)
. The metric tensor in polar coordinates is
(g
ab
) = diag(1, r
2
, r
2
sin
2
1
, . . . , r
2
sin
2
1
. . . sin
2
D2
). (3.4)
If D = 3 equation (3.3) reduces to:
cos
(1,2)
= cos
(1)
cos
(2)
+ sin
(1)
sin
(2)
cos(
(1)
(2)
).
The D-dimensional measure dx expressed in polar coordinates is
dx = r
D1
drd = r
D1
D1
k=1
(sin
k
)
D1k
drd
k
d =
D1
k=1
(sin
k
)
D1k
d
k
.
_
_
(3.5)
d denotes the (D 1)-dimensional surface element on the unit sphere S
D1
and
(D) = 2
D/2
/(D/2) is the volume of the D-dimensional unit (S
D1
-) sphere. The
determinant of the metric tensor is given by
g = det(g
ab
) =
_
r
D1
D1
k=1
(sin
k
)
D1k
_
2
(3.6)
With all this the path integral equation (3.1) yields:
K
(D)
(r
, {
}, r
, {
}; T) =
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
ND/2
_

0
r
D1
(1)
dr
(1)
_
d
(1)

_

0
r
D1
(N1)
dr
(N1)
_
d
(N1)
j=1
exp
_
i m
2h
_
r
2
(j)
+r
2
(j1)
2r
(j)
r
(j1)
cos
(j,j1)
i
h
V (r
(j)
)
_
.
(3.7)
{} denotes the set of the angular variables. For further calculations we need the
formula [40, p.980]:
e
z cos
=
_
z
2
_
()
l=0
(l + )I
l+
(z)C
l
(cos ), (3.8)
41
Important Examples
(for some = 0, 1, 2, . . . ), where C
l
are Gegenbauer polynomials and I
modied
Bessel functions. Equation (3.8) is a generalization of the well known expansion in
three dimension where =
1
2
(remember C
1
2
l
= P
l
, [40, p.980]):
e
z cos
=
_

2z
l=0
(2l + 1)I
l+
1
2
(z)P
l
(cos ) (3.9)
Note: It is in some sense possible to include the case D = 2, i.e. = 0 if one uses
l lim
0
()C
l
= 2 cos l [40, p.1030], yielding nally [40, p.970]:
e
z cos
=
k=
I
k
(z) e
i k
. (3.10)
The addition theorem for the real surface (or hyperspherical) harmonics S
l
on the
S
D1
-sphere has the form [31, Vol.II, Chapter IX]:
M
=1
S
l
(
(1)
)S
l
(
(2)
) =
1
(D)
2l +D 2
D2
C
D2
2
l
(cos
(1,2)
) (3.11)
with = x/r unit vector in R
d
and the M linearly independent S
l
of degree l with
M = (2l +D 2)(l + D 3)!/l!(D3)!. The orthonormality relation is
_
dS
l
()S
() =
ll

. (3.12)
Combining equations (3.8) and (3.11) we get the expansion formula
e
z(
(1)
(2)
)
= e
z cos
(1,2)
= 2
_
2
z
_
D2
2

l=0
M
=1
S
l
(
(1)
)S
l
(
(2)
)I
l+
D2
2
(z). (3.13)
Let = (D2)/2 > 0 in equation (3.8), then the jth term in equation (3.7) becomes
R
j
= exp
_
i m
2h
(r
2
(j)
+ r
2
(j1)
)
i
h
V (r
(j)
)
_
exp
_
m
2 i h
r
(j)
r
(j1)
cos
(j,j1)
_
=
_
2 i h
mr
(j)
r
(j1)
_
D2
2
_
D2
2
_
exp
_
i m
2h
(r
2
(j)
+r
2
(j1)
)
i
h
V (r
(j)
)
_
l
j
=0
_
l
j
+
D
2
1
_
I
l
j
+
D2
2
_
m
i h
r
(j)
r
(j1)
_
C
D2
2
l
j
(cos
(j,j1)
)
= 2
_
2 i h
mr
(j)
r
(j1)
_
D2
2
exp
_
i m
2h
(r
2
(j)
+ r
2
(j1)
)
i
h
V (r
(j)
)
_
l
j
=0
I
l
j
+
D2
2
_
m
i h
r
(j)
r
(j1)
_
M
j
=1
S
j
l
j
(
(j)
)S
j
l
j
(
(j1)
). (3.14)
42
With the help of equations (3.11) and (3.14) now (3.7) becomes:
K
(D)
(x
, x
; T)
= (r
D2
2
l=0
M
=1
S
l
(
)S
l
(
)
lim
N
_
m
i h
_
N
_

0
r
(1)
dr
(1)
. . .
_

0
r
(N1)
dr
(N1)
j=1
exp
_
i m
2h
(r
2
(j)
+r
2
(j1)
)
i
h
V (r
(j)
)
_
I
l+
D2
2
_
m
i h
r
(j)
r
(j1)
_
. (3.15)
Therefore we can separate the radial part of the path integral:
K
(D)
(r
, {
}, r
, {
}; T) =
1
(D)
l=0
l +D 2
D 2
C
D2
2
l
(cos
(
)
)K
l
(r
, r
; T)
(3.16)
with
K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) = (r
D2
2
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
N/2
_

0
dr
(1)

_

0
dr
(N1)
j=1
l
[r
(j)
r
(j1)
] exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
(r
(j)
r
(j1)
)
2
V (r
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
(3.17)
and the functional measure
(D)
l
(z
(j)
) =
_
2z
(j)
e
z
(j)
I
l+
D2
2
(z
(j)
), (3.18)
where z
(j)
= (m/ i h)r
(j)
r
(j1)
.
In the literature often use is been made of the asymptotic form of the modied
Bessel functions
I
(z) (2z)
1
2
e
z(
2
1
4
)/2z
(|z| 1, (z) > 0). (3.19)
Then the functional measure becomes (we ignore (z) = 0):
(D)
l
(z
(j)
) exp
_
i h
2mr
(j)
r
(j1)
_
_
l +
D 2
2
_
2
1
4
__
(3.20)
and K
(D)
l
reads:
K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) = (r
D1
2
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
N/2
_

0
dr
(1)

_

0
dr
(N1)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
(r
(j)
r
(j1)
)
2
h
2
(l +
D2
2
)
2
1
4
2mr
(j)
r
(j1)
V (r
(j)
)
_
_
_
_
. (3.21)
43
Important Examples
This last equation seems to suggests a Lagrangian formulation of the radial path
integral:
k
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T)
?
=
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
h
2
(l +
D2
2
)
2
1
4
2mr
2
V (r)
__
.
(3.22)
with k
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) = (r
)
(D1)/2
K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T). But nevertheless, equation (3.17)

can be written in a similar manner with a nontrivial functional measure:
k
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) =
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
(D)
l
[r
2
]Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
V (r)
_
dt
_
(3.23)
and the whole l-dependence is in
l
, as dened in equation (3.18) in the lattice
formulation. The asymptotic expansion of I
in equation (3.19) in problematic because

it is only valid for (z) > 0, but we have (z) = 0. The complete expansions in this
case reads [40, p.962]
I
(z)
e
z
2z
k=0
(1)
k
(2z)
k
( + k +
1
2
)
k!( k +
1
2
)
+
exp[z ( +
1
2
)i]
2z
k=0
1
(2z)
k
( +k +
1
2
)
k!( k +
1
2
)
2z
_
exp
_
z
1
4
2z
_
+ exp
_
z +
1
4
2z
i
_
+
1
2
___
.
(3.24)
(+ for /2 < arg(z) < 3/2, - for 3/2 < arg(z) < /2). Langguth and
Inomata [67] argued that the inserting of the expansion (3.20) in the path integral
(3.17) can be justied (adopting an argument due to Nelson [80]), but things are not
such as easy. Our arguments are as follows:
1) The Schr odinger equation
_
h
2
2m
_
d
2
dr
2
+
D 1
2r
d
dr
_
+ h
2
l(l + D2)
2mr
2
+V (r)
_
(r; t) = i h

t
(r; t) (3.25)
can be derived from the short time kernel of the path integral (3.17).
2) For r
, r
0 equation (3.24) has the right boundary conditions at the origin. We

have for z 0:
2z e
z
I
(z)
2
(2)!!
z
+
1
2
_
1 +O(z
2
)
and it follows:
(D)
l
(z
(j)
)
_
r
l+(D1)/2
(r
0, r
> 0)
r
l+(D1)/2
(r
0, r
> 0)
(3.26)
44
for all j. If R
(D)
n,l
and e
(D)
n,l
denote the (normalized) radial state functions and
energy levels, respectively, of the D-dimensional problem, we have
K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) =
n=0
R
(D)
n,l
(r
)R
(D)
n,l
(r
) e
i T e
(D)/ h
n,l
/ h
(3.27)
and thus for any but s-states - including the factor r
(D1)/2
in equation (3.27) -
we have:
R
(D)
n,l
(r) r
l+(D1)/2
r
(D1)/2
= r
l
(3.28)
which is the correct boundary condition for R
(D)
n,l
.
Both points are not true for the path integral (3.22), because
1) we did not nd any obvious method for deriving the full Schroding er equation
(3.25), the angular dependence comes out wrong.
2) In the Euclidean region T i ( > 0) the functional measure is vanishing like
exp
_
h

N
_
(l +
D2
2
)
2
1
4
2mr
1
r
+
(l +
D2
2
)
2
1
4
2mr
(N1)
r
__
exp
_
_
_
h

N
N1
j=1
(l +
D2
2
)
2
1
4
2mr
(j)
r
(j1)
_
_
_
(3.29)
which is also vanishing for r
, r
0, but not in the right manner. The points

r
= r
= 0 are essential singularities, where as the correct vanishing is powerlike.

3) Equation (3.22) seems very suggestive, but it is quit useless in explicit calculations.
Even in the simplest case D = 3, l = 0, V = 0, i.e.
K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) = (r
D1
2
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
N/2
_

0
dr
(1)

_

0
dr
(N1)
exp
_
_
_
i m
2h
N
j=1
(r
(j)
r
(j1)
)
2
_
_
_
(3.30)
cannot be calculated. The integrals turn out to be repeated integrals over errorfunc-
tions which are not tractable. Also the method of Arthurs [4] fails. In this method
one assumes that the integrations in the limit 0 are eectively from to +.
The path integral (3.30) then becomes
K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) = (r
D1
2
exp
_
i m
2h
(r
)
2
_
which is wrong. The mirror term K
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) is missing.
Let us discuss some properties of the path integral (3.22)
k
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) =
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
(D)
l
[r
2
]Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
V (r)
_
dt
_
. (3.31)
45
Important Examples
1) The whole l- and D-dependence is contained in
(D)
l
, as dened in (3.18):
(D)
l
[z
(j)
] =
_
2z
(j)
e
z
(j)
I
l+
D2
2
(z
(j)
). (3.32)
Therefore we can conclude:
(D)
l
[r
2
] =
(3)
l+
D3
2
[r
2
] (3.33)
and all dimensional dependence of the path integral (3.31) can be deduced from
the three dimensional case:
k
(D)
l
(r
, r
; T) = k
(3)
l+
D3
2
(r
, r
, T). (3.34)
From now on we will denote k
l
(T) = k
(3)
l
(T).
2) The boundary conditions we have already discussed; we have for the radial wave
functions u
(D)
l
and R
(D)
l
respectively:
u
(D)
l
(r) r
l+
D1
2
, R
(D)
l
(r) r
l
(r 0). (3.35)
We therefore state: The radial path integral k
l
(T) can be written as a superposition
of two one dimensional path integrals:
k
l
(r
, r
; T) = k
(1)
l
(r
, r
; T) (1)
l
k
(1)
l
(r
, r
; T) (3.36)
with
k
(1)
l
(r
, r
; T) = lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
_

dr
(1)

_

dr
(N1)
j=1
(D)
l
[r
(j)
r
(j1)
] exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2h
2
r
(j)
V (|r
(j)
|)
_
_
_
_
. (3.37)
4) From equation (3.36) for the case l = V = 0 we have two free particle path integrals
the solution being:
k
V =0
0
(r
, r
; T) =
_
m
2 i hT
_1
2
_
exp
_
i m
2Th
(r
)
2
_
exp
_
i m
2Th
(r
+ r
)
2
__
=
_
m
2 i hT
_1
2
exp
_
i m
2Th
(r
)
2
__
1 exp
_
i m
hT
r
__
,
(3.38)
the second term is the so called mirror term. It is not allowed to drop it, even for
very small T 0, since this violates the boundary condition which demands that
k
V =0
0
vanishes for r
, r
0. These two parts of the Bessel functions express nothing

46
else than the famous mirror principle. Actually, in the above Euclidean form k
V =0
0
is
nothing else but the heat kernel on the half line r 0, which has the representation:
K
(3)
(r
, r
; T) = K
(1)
(r
, r
; T) K
(1)
(r
, r
; T) (3.39)
where K
(1)
denotes the one-dimensional heat kernel in R. In the language of diusion
processes: r = 0 is an absorbing boundary and the job is done by the functional
measure
(D)
l
.
Let us discuss the radial path integral in the language of the Weyl-ordering and
product-ordering rule [49]. We consider the Schrodinger equation in D-dimensions
with a potential V (|x|) = V (r):
i h

t
(r, {}; t) =
_
h
2
2m
LB
+V (r)
_
(r, {}; t) (3.40)
with
LB
the Laplace Beltrami operator. Introducing the D-dimensional Legendre
operator:
L
2
(D)
=
_

2
2
1
+ (D2) cot
1
1
_
+
1
sin
2
1
_

2
2
2
+ (D3) cot
2
2
_
+ . . .
+
1
sin
2
1
. . . sin
2
D3
_

2
2
D2
+ cot
D2
D2
_
+
1
sin
2
1
. . . sin
2
D2
2
.
(3.41)
the Laplace operator is:
LB
=

2
r
2
+
D 1
r
r
+
1
r
2
L
2
(D)
. (3.42)
Rewriting the Hamiltonian H =
h
2
2m
LB
yields:
H(p
r
, r, {p
, }) =
p
2
r
2m
+
1
2mr
2
_
p
2
1
+
1
sin
2
1
p
2
2
+. . . +
1
sin
2
1
. . . sin
2
D2
p
2
_
+ V
Weyl
({}) (3.43)
with
V
Weyl
(r, {}) =
h
2
8mr
2
_
1 +
1
sin
2
1
+ . . . +
1
sin
2
1
. . . sin
2
D2
_
. (3.44)
and the hermitean momenta
p
r
=
h
i
_

r
+
D1
2r
_
p
=
h
i
_

+
D 1
2
cot
_
p
=
h
i
.
_
_
(3.45)
47
Important Examples
Because of the special nature of g
ab
, the product ordering gives the same quantum
potential as the Weyl-ordering, i.e. we have V
Weyl
= V
prod
. In particular we have
the equivalence
N1
j=1
_
g
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
L
N
Cl
(r
(j)
, {
(j)
}, r
(j1)
, {
(j1)
})
_
_
_
=(g
1
4
N
j=1
_
g
(j)
exp
_
i
h
L
N
Cl
( r
(j)
, {
(j)
})
_
(3.46)
where
L
N
Cl
(r
(j)
, {
(j)
}, r
(j1)
, {
(j1)
})
=
m
2
2
_
(r
(j)
r
(j1)
)
2
+

r
(j) 2
_
(
(j)
1

(j1)
1
)
2
+

sin
2
(j)
1
(
(j)
2

(j1)
2
)
2
+. . .
. . . + (
sin
2
(j)
1
. . .
sin
2
(j1)
D2
)(
(j)
(j1)
)
2
__
(3.47)
denotes a classical Lagrangian on the lattice. L
N
Cl
( r
(j)
, {
(j)
}) is similar dened as
(3.47), except that one has to take all trigonometrics at mid-points. The features are,
of course, direct consequences of the product form denition as described in section
II.3. With the correct Hamiltonian (3.43) we can consider the Hamiltonian path
integral for the Feynman kernel K:
K
(D)
(r
, {
}, r
, {
}; T)
= (g
1
4
r(t
)=r
{(t
)=
}
_
r(t
)=r
{(t
)=
}
Dr(t)Dp
r
(t)D{}(t)D{p
}(t)
exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
p
r
r +
D1
=1
p
H
eff
(p
r
, r, {p
}, {})
_
dt
_
= (g
1
4
lim
N
N1
j=1
_
dr
(j)
d{
(j)
}
N
j=1
_
dp
r
(j)
d{p
(j)
}
(2h)
D
exp
_
_
_
i
h
_
_
N
j=1
p
r
(j)
r
(j)
+{p
(j)
}{
(j)
} H
eff
(p
r
(j)
, r
(j)
, {p
(j)
}, {
(j)
})
_
_
_
_
_
(3.48)
48
with the eective Hamiltonian
H
eff
(p
r
(j)
, r
(j)
, {p
(j)
,
(j)
}) =
p
2
r
(j)
2m
+
1
2m
r
2
(j)
_
_
p
2
(j)
1
+
1
sin
2
(j)
1
p
2
2
+ +
1
sin
2
(j)
1
. . .
sin
2
(j)
D2
p
2
(j)
_
_
+ V
Prod
({
(j)
})
(3.49)
After the integration over all momenta we get (V V
Weyl
= V
prod
):
K
(D)
(r
, r
, {
}, {
}; T)
=
r(t
)=r
{(t
)=
}
_
r(t
)=r
{(t
)=
}
Dr(t) D(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
L
N
Cl
(r, r, {,

}) V (r, {})
dt
_
,
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_ND
2
N1
j=1
_

0
dr
D1
(j)
dr
(j)
_
d
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
_
_
N
j=1
L
N
eff
(r
(j)
, {
(j)
}, r
(j1)
, {
(j1)
}) V (r
(j)
, {
(j)
})
_
_
_
_
_
(3.50)
with the eective Lagrangian
L
eff
(r, r, {,

})
=
m
2
[ r
2
+ r
2

2
1
+ r
2
sin
2
2
2
+ +r
2
(sin
2
1
. . . sin
2
D2
)

2
] V (r, {})
(3.51)
dened in the same way as L
N
Cl
in equation (3.47).
The path integral (3.50) with the Lagrangian given by equation (3.47) is too
complicated for explicit calculations. We therefore try to replace equation (3.47)
under the path integral (3.50) by the following expression:
L
Cl
(r, {}, r, {
})

L
Cl
(r, {}, r, {
}) :=
m
2
R
2

2
V
c
({}) (3.52)
where V
c
has to be determined and denotes the D-dimensional unit vector on the
S
D1
-sphere. Thus we try to replace L
Cl
by a simpler expression and hope that
V
c
+ V
Weyl
is simple enough. We have
(
(1)
(2)
)
2
= 2(1 cos
(1,2)
) (3.53)
49
Important Examples
with the addition theorem (3.3). We shall use equation (3.53) to justify the replace-
ment (3.52) and thereby derive an expression for V
c
. We start with the kinetic term
(x
(j)
x
(j1)
)
2
expressed in the polar coordinates (3.2), R = r (not xed), and expand
it in terms of r and
. After some tedious calculations we obtain the following

identity
exp
_
i
h
L
N
Cl
(r
(j)
, {
(j)
}, r
(j1)
, {
(j1)
})
_
=exp
_
i m
h
_
r
(j) 2
+ r
(j1) 2
2r
(j)
r
(j1)
cos
(j,j1)
_
i V
c
(r
(j)
, {
(j)
})
_
(3.54)
with
V
c
(r
(j)
, {
(j)
}) =
h
2
8mr
(j) 2
_
1 +
1
sin
2
(j)
1
+ +
1
sin
2
(j)
1
. . . sin
2
(j)
D2
_
(3.55)
(V
c
is the same whether or not r
(j)
= 0). The result is that the potential V
c
generated
by these steps cancels exactly V
Weyl
(r, {})! Therefore we get:
K
(D)
(r
, r
, {
}, {
}; T) =
r(t
)=r
{(t
)=
}
_
r(t
)=r
{(t
)=}
Dr(t) D(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
V (r)
_
dt
_
,
(3.56)
where x
2
has to be expressed in polar coordinates. In the lattice formulation x
2
reads
x
2
[r
2
(j)
+ r
2
(j1)
2r
(j)
r
(j1)
cos
(j,j1)
]/
2
. (3.57)
Therefore we arrive at equation (3.52) and both approaches are equivalent as it should
be.
Let us note that equation (3.54) as derived in [49] is eectively a regularization
of the highly singular terms in V . This corresponds to the 1/r
2
-terms in the radial
path integral which have been regularized by the functional measure
l
[r
2
]. However,
the functional measure method gives a quite practical tool to regularize such singular
terms.
3.2. The Radial Harmonic Oscillator
Let us now discuss the most important application of equation (3.17), namely the
harmonic oscillator with V (r) =
1
2
m
2
r
2
. The calculation has rst been performed
by Peak and Inomata [84]. However, we present the more general case with time-
dependent coecients following Goovaerts [39]. This example will be of great virtue
in the solution of various path integral problems.
50
III.3.2 The Radial Harmonic Oscillator
We have to study
K
l
(r
, r
; )
= (r
)
1D
2
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
N/2
_

0
dr
(1)

_

0
dr
(N1)
j=1
_
(D)
l
[r
(j)
r
(j1)
] exp
_
i m
2h
(r
(j)
r
(j1)
)
2
i
2 h
m
2
(t
(j)
)r
2
(j)
__
= (r
)
2D
2
lim
N
_
m
i h
_
N/2
_

0
r
(1)
r
(1)

_

0
r
(N1)
dr
(N1)
j=1
_
exp
_
i m
2h
(r
2
(j)
+ r
2
(j1)
)
i
2 h
m
2
(t
(j)
)r
2
(j)
_
I
l+
D2
2
_
m
i h
r
(j)
r
(j1)
__
= (r
)
2D
2
lim
N
_
i
_
N/2
e
i (r
2
+r
2
)/2
_

0
r
(1)
dr
(1)

_

0
r
(N1)
dr
(N1)
exp
_
i(
(1)
r
2
(1)
+
(2)
r
2
(2)
+ +
(N1)
r
2
(N1)
)
_
_
I
l+
D2
2
(i r
(0)
r
(1)
) . . . I
l+
D2
2
(i r
(N1)
r
(N)
)
_
= (r
)
2D
2
lim
N
K
N
l
(T) (3.58)
where K
N
l
(T) is dened by the iterated integrals. Furthermore we have set = m/h
and
(j)
= [1
2
m
2
(t
(j)
)/2]. We are now using [40, p.718]
_

0
x e
x
2
J
(x)J
(x)dx =
1
2
e
(
2
+
2
)/4
I
2
_
(3.59)
which is valid for () > 1, | arg
| < /4 and , > 0. With analytic continuation

[84] one can show that
_

0
r e
i r
2
I
(i ar)I
(i br)dr =
i
2
e
(a
2
+b
2
)/4i
I
_
ab
2i
_
(3.60)
is valid for > 1 and () > 0. By means of equation (3.60) we obtain for K
N
l
(T):
K
N
l
(T) =
_
i
_N
2
exp
_
i
2
(r
2
+r
2
)
__

0
r
(1)
dr
(1)

_

0
r
(N1)
dr
(N1)
exp
_
i(
(1)
r
2
(1)
+
(2)
r
2
(2)
+ +
(N1)
r
2
(N1)
)
_
_
I
l+
D2
2
(i r
(0)
r
(1)
) . . . I
l+
D2
2
(i r
(N1)
r
(N)
)
_
=

N
i
exp
_
i p
N
r
2
+ i q
N
r
2
_
I
l+
D2
2
(i
N
r
) (3.61)
51
Important Examples
where the coecients
N
, p
N
and q
N
are given by
N
=
N1
k=1
2
k
p
N
=

2

N1
k=1
2
k
4
k
q
N
=

2

2
4
N1
1
= ,
k+1
=
k
j=1
2
k
(k 1)
1
=
1
,
k+1
=
k+1

2
4
k
.
_
_
(3.62)
We must now determine these quantities. Let us start with the evaluation of
k
.
Putting
2
k
=
y
k+1
y
k
(3.63)
we obtain
k+1
=
k+1

2
4
k
y
k+1
2y
k
+ y
k1
2
+
2
k
y
k
= 0. (3.64)
In the limit N this gives a dierential equation for y
y +
2
(t)y = 0
with solution y = (t
+ t) (t). Since on one hand side

y
1
y
0
+ y
0
y
0
( 0),
y
1

2
y
0
1
2y
0
, ( 0),
and on the other
y
0
=
y
1
y
0
=
1
_
2
1
1
_
y
0
1, ( 1),
we have the boundary conditions
(0) = 0, (0) = 1. (3.65)
Now let us expand y
k+1
[(k + 1)] + O(
3
), we observe that
y
k+1
2y
k
+ y
k1
+
2
2
(t
+k)y
k
= 0
52
is satised up to second order in . Therefore expanding (3.64)
k+1
=

2
y
k+2
y
k+1
=

2
[(k + 2)] + O(
3
)
[(k + 1)] + O(
3
)
.
Consequently
lim
N
N
= lim
N
m
h
N1
j=1
(j) + O(
3
)
[(j + 1)] +O(
3
)
= lim
N
m
h
(0)
(N)
=
m
h(T)
. (3.66)
Similarly
lim
N
q
N
= lim
N
m
2h
_
1
[(N 1)] + O(
3
)
[N] + O(
3
)
_
= lim
N
m
2 h
[N] [t
+ (N 1)]
[N]
=
m (T)
2 h(T)
. (3.67)
Finally we must calculates p
N
. We have
lim
N
p
N
= lim
N
_
2

N1
k=1
2
k
4
k
_
=
m
2 h
lim
N
_
1

N1
k=1
2
[(k + 1)]
_
=
m
2 h
lim
N
_
1

_
T
dt
2
(t)
_
=
m
2 h(T)
lim
N
_
(T)
(T)
_
T
dt
2
(t)
_
m
2 h(T)
(T).
(3.68)
Furthermore we nd
lim
N
() = lim
N
()
()
_

dt
2
(t)
lim
0
(0) + (0)
= (0) = 1
lim
0
() = lim
0
_
()

1
()
_
= lim
0
(0)[(0) + (0)]
[(0) + (0)]
= 0,
and therefore (t) is satisfying the boundary conditions
(0) = 1,

(0) = 0. (3.69)
53
Important Examples
(t) is found to satisfy the dierential equation
+
2
(t) = 0. (3.70)
Therefore we have
P(T) = lim
N
p
N
=
m
2 h
(T)
(T)
(3.71)
and we have nally for the path integral of the radial harmonic oscillator with time-
dependent frequency:
K
l
(r
, r
; T)
= (r
)
2D
2
m
i h(T)
exp
_
i m
2 h
_
(T)
(T)
r
2
+
(T)
(T)
r
2
__
I
l+
D2
2
_
mr
i h(T)
_
. (3.72)
In particular for (t) = = const.:
(t) =
1
sin (t t
), (t) = cos (t t
)
(t) = cos (t t
)
which yields the radial path integral solution for the radial harmonic oscillator with
time-independent frequency
K
l
(r
, r
; T)
= (r
)
2D
2
m
i hsin T
exp
_
i m
2 h
(r
2
+ r
2
) cot T
_
I
l+
D2
2
_
mr
i hsin T
_
. (3.73)
It is possible to get the same result, if one starts with the D-dimensional path integral
in Cartesian coordinates:
K(x
, x
; ) =
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i m
2 h
_
t
_
x
2
2
x
2
dt
_
(3.74)
insert for every dimension the solution of the one-dimensional oscillator
K(x
k
, x
k
; T) =
_
m
2ihsin T
exp
_
i m
2 h
_
(x
k
2
+ x
k
2
) cot T
2x
k
x
k
sin T
__
(3.75)
and uses equations (3.8) and (3.11).
The next step is to calculate with the help of equation (3.73) the energy-levels and
state-functions. For this purpose we use the Hille-Hardy-formula [40, p.1038]
t
/2
1 t
exp
_
1
2
(x +y)
1 + t
1 t
_
I
_
2
xyt
1 t
_
=
n=0
t
n
n! e
1
2
(x+y)
(n + + 1)
(xy)
/2
L
()
n
(x)L
()
n
(y).
(3.76)
54
With the substitution t = e
2 i T
, x = mr
2
/h and y = mr
2
/h in equation (3.73)
we get nally:
K
l
(r
, r
; T) =
N=0
e
i TE
N
/ h
R
l
N
(r
)R
l
N
(r
) (3.77)
E
N
= h
_
N +
D
2
_
(3.78)
R
l
N
(r) =
2m
hr
D2

(
Nl
2
+ 1)
(
N+l+D
2
)
_
m
h
r
2
_
l+
D2
2
exp
_
m
h
r
2
_
L
(l+
D2
2
)
Nl
2
_
m
h
r
2
_
.
(3.79)
The path integral for the harmonic oscillator suggests a generalization in the index
l. This will be very important in further applications. For this purpose we consider
equation (3.17) with the nontrivial functional measure
(D)
l
(r
2
)
l
[r
2
]:
K
l
(r
, r
; T) =
1
r
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t)
l
[r
2
] exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
V (r)
_
dt
_
(3.80)
The functional measure corresponds to a potential V
l
= h
2 l(l+1)
2mr
2
in the Schrodinger
equation. Assuming that we can analytically continue in l with () > 1, then
we get for an arbitrary potential V
(r) = h
2
1
4
2mr
2
navely inserted into the radial path
integral
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
h
2
1
4
2mr
2

m
2

2
r
2
_
dt
_
. (3.81)
This path integral must now be interpreted in terms of the functional measure in
equation (3.18). Dene (z mr
(j1)
r
(j)
/ i h):
[r
2
] = lim
N
N
j=1
_
2z
(j)
e
z
(j)
I
(z
(j)
). (3.82)
Then equation (3.81) must be interpreted with the help of equation (3.82) as
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
h
2
1
4
2mr
2

m
2

2
r
2
_
dt
_
:=
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t)
[r
2
] exp
_
i m
2 h
_
t
_
r
2
2
r
2
_
dt
_
=
m
i hsin T
exp
_
i m
2 h
_
r
2
+r
2
_
cot T
_
I
_
mr
i hsin T
_
. (3.83)
55
Important Examples
This important equation has been derived by Peak and Inomata [84] with the
help of the three-dimensional radial harmonic oscillator, and by Duru [26] with the
corresponding two-dimensional case. Duru considered the radial potential problem
V (r) =
a
r
2
+ br
2
(3.84)
with some numbers a and b. Identifying a = ( h
2
/2m)(
2
1
4
) and b =
1
2
m
2
it is
simple calculation to express equation (3.83) in terms of a and b, which is omitted
here. However, these authors did not discuss this path integral identity in terms of the
functional measure language. That such a procedure is actually legitimate is beyond
the scope of these notes. It was justied by Fischer, Leschke and M uller [35] for the
radial path integral and for the Poschl-Teller path integral as well (see below), where
one also has to be careful with the appropriate Besselian functional measure. In the
functional measure interpretation equation (3.83) can be found in references [49] and
[92]. Equation (3.83) is very important in numerous applications.
Let us note the free particle case. In the limit 0 we obtain in equation (3.73)
K
(=0)
l
(r
, r
; T)
= (r
)
2D
2
m
i hT
exp
_
i m
2 hT
(r
2
+r
2
)
_
I
l+
D2
2
_
mr
i hT
_
= (r
)
2D
2
_

0
dp p exp
_
i hTp
2
2m
_
J
l+
D2
2
(pr
)J
l+
D2
2
(pr
) (3.85)
with wave-functions and energy spectrum
p
(r) = r
2D
2
p J
l+
D2
2
(pr), E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
. (3.86)
The one-dimensional case gives (i.e. motion on the half-line)
p
(r) = r
p J1
2
(pr) =
_
2
r
sin pr, E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
. (3.87)
However, there is an ambiguity in the boundary condition for r = 0 for D = 1. The
present case here, i.e.
p
(0) = 0, corresponds to a specic self adjoint extension of the
Hamiltonian H = h
2
d
2
/dx
2
for functions L
2
([0, )) on the half-line.
Finally we calculate the energy dependent Green function for the radial harmonic
oscillator. Making use of the integral representation of the previous section we obtain
G
l
(r
, r
; E)
= i
_

0
e
i ET/ h
K
l
(r
, r
; T)dt
=
[
1
2
(l +
D
2

E
h
)]
(r
)
D/2
(l +
D
2
)
W E
2 h
,
1
2
(l+
D2
2
)
_
m
h
r
2
>
_
M E
2 h
,
1
2
(l+
D2
2
)
_
m
h
r
2
<
_
.
(3.88)
56
III.4 Other Elementary Path Integrals
From this representation we can recover by means of the expansion for the -function
the wave-functions of equation (3.79).
The corresponding Green function for the free particle has the form
G
(=0)
l
(r
, r
; E)
=
2m
h(r
)
D2
2
I
l+
D2
2
_
1
i
_
mE
2 h
2
(r
+ r
|r
|)
_
K
l+
D2
2
_
1
i
_
mE
2 h
2
(r
+ r
+|r
|)
_
(3.89)
=
i m
h(r
)
D2
2
J
l+
D2
2
_
_
mE
2 h
2
(r
+ r
|r
|)
_
H
(1)
l+
D2
2
_
_
mE
2 h
2
(r
+ r
+|r
|)
_
,
(3.90)
where use has been made of the integral representation
_

0
dx
x
exp
_
px
a + b
2x
_
I
_
a b
2x
_
= 2I
p
_
a
b
_
_
K
p
_
a +
b
_
_
.
(3.91)
4. Other Elementary Path Integrals
There are two further path integral solutions based on the SU(2) [5, 25, 60] and
SU(1, 1) [5, 61] group path integration, respectively. The rst yields the path integral
identity for the solution of the Poschl-Teller potential according to
K
(PT)
(x
, x
; T)
=
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
h
2
2m
_
1
4
sin
2
x
+
1
4
cos
2
x
__
dt
_
=
l=0
exp
_
i hT
2m
( + + 2l + 1)
2
_
(,)
l
(x
)
(,)
l
(x
)
=
sin 2x
sin 2x
J=0,
1
2
exp
_
i hT
2m
(2J + 1)
2
_
(2J + 1)D
J
+
2
,
2
(cos 2x
)D
J
+
2
,
2
(cos 2x
) (4.1)
with the wave-functions given by
(,)
n
(x) =
_
(2J + 1) sin2xD
J
+
2
,
2
(cos 2x) (4.2a)
57
Important Examples
=
_
2( + + 2l + 1)
l!( + + l + 1)
( +l + 1)( + l + 1)
_1
2
(sin x)
+
1
2
(cos x)
+
1
2
P
(,)
n
(cos 2x). (4.2b)
=
_
+ + 2l + 1
2
++1
l!( + +l + 1)
( + l + 1)( +l + 1)
_1
2
2 sin 2x(1 cos 2x)
2
(1 + cos 2x)
2
P
(,)
n
(cos 2x).
(4.2c)
Here, of course we can analytically continue from integer values of m and n to, say,
real numbers and , respectively .
Similarly we can state a path integral identity for the modied Posch-Teller
potential which is dened as
V
(,)
(r) =
h
2
2m
_
1
4
sinh
2
r
1
4
cosh
2
r
_
. (4.3)
This can be achieved by means of the path integration of the SU(1, 1) group manifold.
One gets
K
(MPT)
(r
, r
; T) =
N
M
n=0
(,)
n
(r
)
(,)
n
(r
) exp
_
i hT
2m
_
2(k
1
k
2
n) 1
_
2
_
+
_

0
dp
(,)
p
(r
)
(,)
p
(r
) exp
_
i hT
2m
p
2
_
. (4.4)
Introduce the numbers k
1
, k
2
dened by: k
1
=
1
2
(1 ), k
2
=
1
2
(1 ), where the
correct sign depends on the boundary conditions for r 0 and r , respectively.
In particular for
2
=
1
4
, i.e. k
2
=
1
4
,
3
4
, we obtain wave-functions with even and odd
parity, respectively. The number N
M
denotes the maximal number of states with
0, 1, . . . , N
M
< k
1
k
2
1
2
. The bound state wave-functions read as:
(k
1
,k
2
)
n
(r) = N
(k
1
,k
2
)
n
(sinh r)
2k
2
1
2
(cosh r)
2k
1
+
3
2
2
F
1
(k
1
+ k
2
+, k
1
+ k
2
+ 1; 2k
2
; sinh
2
r)
N
(k
1
,k
2
)
n
=
1
(2k
2
)
_
2(2 1)(k
1
+ k
2
)(k
1
+ k
2
+ 1)
(k
1
k
2
+ )(k
1
k
2
+ 1)
_1
2
_
_
(4.5)
( = k
1
k
2
n), (there is a factor 2 missing in reference [36]). Note the equivalent
formulation
(,)
n
(r) =
_
n!(n + + + 1)
2
+
(n + + 1)(n + + 1)
_1
2
(1 x)
2
(1 + x)
1
2
P
(,)
n
(x), (4.6)
58
III.5 The Coulomb Potential
with the substitutions = 2k
2
1, = 2(k
1
k
2
n)1 = 21, x = 2/ cosh
2
r1 with
the incorporation of the appropriate measure term, i.e. dr =
_
(1 + x)
_
2(1 x)
_
1
dx.
The scattering states are given by:
(k
1
,k
2
)
p
(r) = N
(k
1
,k
2
)
p
(cosh r)
2k
1
1
2
(sinh r)
2k
2
1
2
2
F
1
(k
1
+ k
2
, k
1
+ k
2
+ 1; 2k
2
; sinh
2
r)
N
(k
1
,k
2
)
p
=
1
(2k
2
)
_
p sinh p
2
2
_
(k
1
+k
2
)(k
1
+k
2
+ )
(k
1
+k
2
+ 1)(k
1
+k
2
+ 1)
_1
2
,
_
_
(4.7)
[ =
1
2
(1 + ip)].
It is possible to state closed expressions for the (energy dependent) Green functions
for the Poschl-Teller and modied Poschl-Teller potential, respectively. For the Poschl-
Teller potential it has the form (Kleinert and Mustapic [65])
G(x
, x
; E) =
m
i h
sin 2x
sin 2x
(m
1
L
E
)(L
E
+m
1
+ 1)
(m
1
+ m
2
+ 1)(m
1
m
2
+ 1)
_
1 cos 2x
2
_
(m
1
m
2
)/2
_
1 + cos 2x
2
_
(m
1
+m
2
)/2
_
1 cos 2x
2
_
(m
1
m
2
)/2
_
1 + cos 2x
2
_
(m
1
+m
2
)/2
2
F
1
_
L
E
+ m
1
; L
E
+m
1
+ 1; m
1
m
2
+ 1;
1 cos 2x
2
_
2
F
1
_
L
E
+ m
1
; L
E
+m
1
+ 1; m
1
+ m
2
+ 1;
1 + cos 2x
2
_
(4.8)
with m
1/2
=
1
2
( ), L
E
=
1
2
+
1
2
2mE /h and x
. A similar expression
is valid for the modied Poschl-Teller-potential Green function (see [65]) which is,
however, omitted here.
5. The Coulomb Potential
The hydrogen atom is, of course, one of the most interesting subjects in quantum
mechanics. In the beginnings of quantum mechanics and with the atom model of
Rutherford it was a riddle how to tract a system which is from the classical physics
point of view unstable and doomed to vanish into pure radiation. Its was Bohrs
genius, postulating the famous rules that only a countable number of orbits are allowed
satisfying the quantum condition
_
pdq = nh (n N). However, this old quantum
mechanics was not sucient, because it fails e.g. in the case of the helium-atom, and
it was Pauli who solved the hydrogen problem in the terms of the new quantum
mechanics developed by Schrodinger and Heisenberg. It is surprising, that Pauli did
59
Important Examples
not use a dierential equation and solves the corresponding Eigenvalue problem as
Schrodinger did later, instead he exploited in fact the hidden SO(4) symmetry of
the Kepler-Coulomb-problem. This symmetry gives classically rise to an conserved
quantity, called Lenz-Runge vector. This additional symmetry allows also a separation
of the Coulomb problem in parabolic coordinates. This vector points from the focal
point of the orbit the perihel.
Ever since the success of quantum mechanics the hydrogen atom was the model
to test the theory, may it be Diracs relativistic quantum mechanics, where rst the
ne-structure constant = e
2
/hc arises.
It was for a long time a really nuisance that this important physical system
could not be treated by path integrals. Calculating wave functions and energy
levels remains more or less a simple task in the operator language, but even the
construction of the Green function (resolvent kernel) was impossible for a long time.
It takes as long as 1979 as Duru and Kleinert [27, 28] nally applied a long-known
transformation in astronomy (Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation [66]) in the path
integral of the Coulomb problem and were successful. Even more, their idea of
transforming simultaneously coordinates and the time-slicing opens new possibilities in
solving the huge amount of unsolved path integral problems. In particular, Coulomb-
related potentials, in the sense, that all these problems can be reformulated in terms
of conuent hypergeoemtric functions, like the Morse-potential could be successfully
treated. However, the original attempt of Duru and Kleinert was done in a more or
less formal manner, and it does not takes a long time when it was rened by Inomata
[58] and Duru and Kleinert [28].
Closely related to the original Coulomb problem is, of course, the 1/r-potential
discussion in R
D
. The D = 2 case in discussed in this subsection, whereas the original
Coulomb problem in the next.
As it turns out its Schrodinger equation for the Coulomb potential is separable in
four coordinate systems:
1) Spherical coordinates:
x = r sin cos
y = r sin sin
z = r cos
(r 0, 0 , 0 2). (5.1)
Separation of variables in this coordinate system is, of course, not a specic feature
of the Coulomb problem, but a common property of all radial potentials.
2) Parabolic coordinates:
x = cos
y = sin
z =
1
2
(
2
2
)
(, 0, 0 2). (5.2)
Here electric and magnetic elds can be introduced without spoiling separability.
60
III.5.1 The 1/r-potential in R
2
3) Spheroidal coordinates:
x = sinh sin sin
y = sinh sin cos
z = cosh cos + 1
( 0, 0 , 0 2). (5.3)
Here a further charge can be introduced and therefore these coordinates are
suitable for the study of the hydrogen ion H
+
2
.
4) Spheroconical coordinates:
x = r sn(, k) dn(, k
)
y = r cn(, k) cn(, k
)
z = r dn(, k) sn(, k
)
r 0, || K, || 2K
,
0 k, k
1, k
2
+ k
2
= 1.
(5.4)
sn(, k), cn(, k) and dn(, k) denote Jacobi elliptic functions (e.g. [40, pp.910])
of modulus k and with real and imaginary periods 4K and 4iK
, respectively.
Here the corresponding wave functions in and can be identied with the wave
functions of a quantum mechanically asymmetric top.
We will discuss the path integral for the Coulomb system in the rst two of these
coordinate systems. For the usual polar- and parabolic coordinate coordinate system
the path integration can be exactly performed. In the remaining two, however, the
theory of special functions of these coordinate is poorly developed and no solution
seems up to now available. Nevertheless it is possible to formulate the Coulomb-
problem in these coordinate systems and point out some relations to other problems
connected to these coordinates [46].
It is surprising that the Coulomb path integral was rst solved in Cartesian
coordinates (where the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation works) and not in polar
coordinates. Looking at the appropriate formul we see that even in the one-
dimensional case (in polar coordinates) we need the one-dimensional realization of
the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation and a space-time transformation.
5.1. The 1/r-Potential in R
2
[28, 57]
We consider the Euclidean two-dimensional space with the singular potential V (r) =
Z e
2
/r (r = |x|, x R
2
). Here, e
2
denotes the square of an electric charged Z
its multiplicity (including sign). However, as already noted, this potential is not the
potential of a point charge in R
2
. The classical Lagrangian now has the form
L(x, x) =
m
2
x
2
+
Z e
2
r
. (5.5)
Of course, bound and continuous states can exist, depending on the sign of Z. The
path integral is given by
K(x
, x
; T) =
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
+
Z e
2
r
_
dt
_
. (5.6)
61
Important Examples
Discussion of this path integral are due to Duru and Kleinert [27,28] and Inomata
[58]. However, the lattice-formulation is not trivial for the 1/r-term. In fact, it is too
singular for a path integral, respectively, a stochastic process and some regularization
must be found. This is known for some time, and it turns out that the Kustaanheimo-
Stiefel transformation does the job.
As it turns out one must perform a space-time transformation in order to solve
the path integral (5.6). We perform rst the transformation
x
1
=
2
2
, x
2
= 2, u
_
_
R
2
, (5.7)
which casts the original Lagrangian into the form
L(u, u) = 2m(
2
+
2
)(

2
+
2
) +
Z e
2
2
+
2
. (5.8)
The metric tensor (g
ab
) and its inverse (g
ab
) are given by
(g
ab
) = 4(
2
+
2
)
_
1 0
0 1
_
, (g
ab
) =
1
4(
2
+
2
)
_
1 0
0 1
_
(5.9)
with determinant g = det(g
ab
) = 16(
2
+
2
)
2
and dV = dx
1
dx
2
= 4(
2
+
2
)dd.
The hermitean momenta corresponding to the scalar product
(
1
,
2
) = 4
_

dd (
2
+
2
)
1
(, )
2
(, ) (5.10)
are given by
p
=
h
i
_

2
+
2
_
, p
=
h
i
_

2
+
2
_
. (5.11)
Following our general theory of Chapter II.5 we start by considering the Legendre
transformed Hamiltonian
H
E
=
h
2
2m
_

2
x
2
1
+

2
x
2
2
_
Z e
2
r
E. (5.12)
which gives
H
E
=
h
2
2m
1
4(
2
+
2
)
_

2
2
+

2
2
_
Z e
2
2
+
2
E. (5.13)
Therefore the time-transformation is given by = f(, ) with f(, ) = 4(
2
+
2
)
and the space-time transformed Hamiltonian has the form
H =
h
2
2m
_

2
2
+

2
2
_
4Z e
2
4E(
2
+
2
)
=
1
2m
(p
2
+ p
2
) 4Z e
2
4E(
2
+
2
)
(5.14)
62
2
with the momentum operators and vanishing quantum potential V :
p
=
h
i
, p
=
h
i
, V = 0. (5.15)
This two-dimensional transformation can be interpreted as a two-dimensional Kustaan-
heimo-Stiefel transformation [66]. It has the general feature that it performs a change
of variables to square-root coordinates, note r =
2
+
2
. The general properties of
transformations like this states the following problem (see e.g. [28, 46] for some review
of the relevant literature): For which values of D does exist a formula
(x
2
1
+ +x
2
D
)(y
2
1
+ + y
2
D
) = z
2
1
+ + z
2
D
, (5.16)
where the z
i
are homogeneous bilinear forms in x and y. Following a theorem of
Hurwitz and Lam this type of transformation can only be realized in the space-
dimensions D = 1, 2, 4, 8. The assumption about z now implies that
z = B(x) y (5.17)
z
i
=
k,l
(B
k
)
l
i
x
k
y
l
=
l
B(x)
l
i
y
i
. (5.18)
For the special case x = y one has
i
z
2
i
=
_
j
x
2
j
_
2
(5.19)
and the matrix B satises the condition
t
B(x)B(x) = |x|
2
. (5.20)
The one-dimensional case is trivial, but we shall use it in the calculation of the
path integral for the 1/r-potential in polar coordinates. The D = 2 case we have just
encountered. The four-dimensional variation of this transformation has been used a
long time ago in astronomy for the purpose of regularizing the Kepler problem. The
D = 8 case is degenerate. Here the matrix B has the form:
B(x) =
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
x
1
x
2
x
3
x
4
x
5
x
6
x
7
x
8
x
2
x
1
x
4
x
3
x
6
x
5
x
8
x
7
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
x
7
x
8
x
5
x
6
x
4
x
3
x
2
x
1
x
8
x
7
x
6
x
5
x
5
x
6
x
7
x
8
x
1
x
2
x
3
x
4
x
6
x
5
x
8
x
7
x
2
x
1
x
4
x
3
x
7
x
8
x
5
x
6
x
3
x
4
x
1
x
2
x
8
x
7
x
6
x
5
x
4
x
3
x
2
x
1
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
(5.21)
and maps R
8
R and is thus of no further use.
63
Important Examples
In the next Section (hydrogen-atom) we need the D = 4 case which is more involved
and not one-to-one.
To incorporate the time transformation
s(t) =
_
t
t
d
4r()
, s
= s(t
) (5.22)
and its lattice denition 4 r
(j)
s
(j)
= 4 u
(j) 2
(j)
into the path integral (5.6) we
now use from the set of equations (II.4.35), namely equation (II.4.35a). Observing
that in the path integral (5.6) the measure changes according to
N
j=1
_
m
2 i ht
(j)
_
N1
j=1
dx
(j)
1
dx
(j)
2
=
1
r
j=1
_
m
2 i h
(j)
_
N1
j=1
d
(j)
d
(j)
(5.23)
we arrive at the path integral transformations equations (u R
2
):
K(x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
G(x
, x
; E) (5.24)
G(x
, x
; E) = i
_

0
ds
K(u
, u
; s
) +

K(u
, u
; s
)
_
(5.25)
where the space-time transformed path integral

K is given by
K(u
, u
; s
) = e
4 i Z e
2
s
/ h
_
D(s)
_
D(s)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
(

2
+
2
) + 4E(
2
+
2
)
_
ds
_
. (5.26)
Note that the factor 1/r
has been exactly canceled by means of equation (II.4.35a).

This is a specic feature of this potential problem. Furthermore we have taken into
account that our mapping is of the square-root type which gives rise to a sign
ambiguity. Thus, if one considers all paths in the complex x = x
1
+ ix
2
-plane from
x
to x
, they will be mapped into two dierent classes of paths in the u-plane: Those
which go from u
to u
and those going from u
to u
. In the cut complex x-plane

for the function u =
x
2
these are the paths passing an even or odd number of times
through the square root from x = 0 and x = . We may choose the u
corresponding
to the initial x
to lie on the rst sheet (i.e. in the right half u-plane). The nal u
can be in the right as well as the left half-plane and all paths on the x-plane go over
into paths from u
to u
and those from u
to u
[28]. Thus the two contributions

arise in equation (5.25). Equation (5.26) is interpreted as the path integral of a two-
dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator with frequency =
_
8E/m. Therefore
we get
K(u
, u
; s
) =
m
2 i hsin s
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
s
h

m
2 i h
_
(u
2
+u
2
) cot s
2
u
sin s
__
.
(5.27)
64
2
Introducing now two-dimensional polar-coordinates
=
r cos

2
, =
r sin

2
, (r > 0, [0, 2]) (5.28)
so that u
cos(
)/2. Thus
G(x
, x
; E) =
m
h
_

0
ds
sin s
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
h
s
m
2 i h
(r
+ r
)
_
cosh
_
m
i hsin s
cos

2
_
(5.29)
Using the expansion
cos
_
z cos

2
_
=
l=
e
i l
I
2l
(z) (5.30)
we get for the kernel G(x
, x
; E):
G(x
, x
; E) =
1
2
l=
e
i l(
)
G
l
(r
, r
; E), (5.31)
where the radial kernel G
l
(E) is given by
G
l
(r
, r
; E)
=
2m
h
_

0
ds
sin s
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
s
h

m
2 i h
(r
+ r
) cot s
_
I
2l
_
m
i hsins
_
(Set =
2 i p h
m
, substitution u =
2p hs
m
and Wick-rotation)
=
2m
h
_

0
du
sinh u
exp
_
2 i
ap
u + i p(r
+ r
) coth u
_
I
2l
_
2p
i sinh u
_
(Substitution sinh u = 1/ sinhv)
=
2m
h
_

0
_
coth
v
2
_ 2
ap
exp
_
i p(r
+ r
) cosh v
I
2l
_
2 i p
sinh v
_
dv
(Reinsert hp =
2mE)
=
1
m
2E
1
(2l)!
_
1
2
+ l
Z e
2
h
_
m
2E
_
W
Z e
2
h
m
2E
,l
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
M
Z e
2
h
m
2E
,l
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
. (5.32)
In the last step we have used (2.22) and r
>
, r
<
denotes the larger (smaller) of r
, r
,
respectively. The representation (5.32) shows that G
l
(E) has in the complex energy-
plane poles which are given at the negative integers n
l
= 0, 1, 2, . . . at the argument
65
Important Examples
of the -function and a cut on the real axis with a branch point at E = 0. Thus we
get a discrete and continuous spectrum, respectively:
E
N
=
mZ
2
e
4
2 h
2
(N
1
2
)
2
, (N = 1, 2, . . . ) (5.33)
E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
, (p R). (5.34)
Here we have introduced the principle quantum number N := n
l
+ l + 1. This is the
well-known result.
To determine the discrete spectrum we consider the rst line in equation (5.32),
identify in the Hille-Hardy formula t = e
2u
, x = mr
and y = mr
and thus get

G
l
(r
, r
; E) =
m
h
n=0
(2 i p
)
2l
n + l +
1
2

i
ap
n!
(2l +n)!
exp[i p(r
+ r
)]L
(2l)
n
(2 i pr
)L
(2l)
n
(2 i pr
). (5.35)
Taking equation (5.35) and the n
th
residuum gives the energy levels and the wave
functions. Inserting into equation (5.29) thus yields the Green functions for the
discrete levels for the two-dimensional 1/r-potential
G(x
, x
; E) = h
N=1
l=
N,l
(r
N,l
(r
)
E
N
E
(5.36)
and the wave functions of the discrete spectrum are given by:
N,l
(r, ) =
_
(N l 1)!
a
2
(N
1
2
)
3
(N + l 1)!
_1
2
_
2r
a(N
1
2
)
_
l
exp
_
r
a(N
1
2
)
i l
_
L
(2l)
Nl1
_
2r
a(N
1
2
)
_
. (5.37)
Furthermore we have used the abbreviation a = h
2
/(mZ e
2
) (the rst Bohr-radius).
The correct normalization to unity can be seen from the relation
_

0
x
2l++2
e
x
_
L
(2l++1)
Nl1
(x)
_
2
dx =
2(N +

2
)(N +l + )!
(N l 1)!
, (5.38a)
respectively
_

0
x
+a
e
x
_
L
()
n
(x)
_
2
dx =
(2n + + 1)(n + + 1)
n!
. (5.38b)
66
2
In order to determine the continuous wave functions we use the dispersion relation
[40, p.987]
_

dx e
2ix
_
1
2
+ + ix
_
_
1
2
+ ix
_
M
ix,
()M
ix,
()
=
2
cosh
exp
_
( + ) tanh
J
2
_
2
cosh
_
. (5.39)
and get ( h p =
2mE )
G
l
(r
, r
; E)
= 2 i p
_

0
ds
sin s
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
h
s
p(r
+r
) cot s
_
I
2l
_
2 p
sin s
_
=
i
_

0
ds
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
h
s
_

0
|(
1
2
+ l + ip)|
2
2
(2l + 1)
exp
_
4 i p phs
m
+p
_
M
i p,l
(2 i pr
)M
i p,l
(2 i pr
)dp
= h
_

0
dp
h
2
p
2
/2mE
exp
_

ap
_
_
1
2
+ l +
i
ap
_
_
1
2
+l
i
ap
_
2
(2l)!
M
i
ap
,l
(2 i pr
)M i
ap
,l
(2 i pr
). (5.40)
Here again the residuum at E = h
2
p
2
/2m has been taken in the integral. Thus the
wave functions of the continuous spectrum are given by ( hp =
2mE):
p,l
(r, ) =
_
1
4
2
r
1
(2l)!
_
1
2
+ l +
i
ap
_
exp
_

2ap
i l
_
M i
ap
,l
(2 i pr). (5.41)
Note that
_
1
2
+ l +
i
ap
_
M i
ap
,l
(2 i pr) =
_
1
2
+ l +
i
ap
_
i
ap
,l
(2 i pr) (5.42)
and the wave-functions are therefore basically real. These results of the 1/r potential
for the discrete and continuous spectrum, respectively, are equivalent with the results
of the operator approach. The complete Feynman kernel therefore reads
K(x
, x
; T) =
l=0
N=1
e
i TE
N
/ h
N,l
(r
)
N,l
(r
)
+
l=0
_

0
dp e
i TE
p
/ h
p,l
(r
)
p,l
(r
) (5.43)
with wave functions as given in equations (5.37) and (5.41) and energy spectrum
equations (5.33, 5.34).
67
Important Examples
5.2. The 1/r-Potential in R
3
- The Hydrogen Atom [27, 28, 41, 55, 57, 58]
We consider the Euclidean three-dimensional space with the singular potential V (r)=
Z e
2
/r (r = |x|, x R
3
) with Z and e
2
as in the previous Section. This potential
corresponds in the space R
3
, of course, to the potential of a point charge and is thus
the kernel of the Poisson equation in R
3
. The classical Lagrangian has the form
L(x, x) =
m
2
x
2
+
Z e
2
r
. (5.44)
The path integral is given by
K(x
, x
; T) =
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
+
Z e
2
r
_
dt
_
. (5.45)
This path integral was rst successfully solved (actually the Green function or resolvent
kernel) by Duru and Kleinert [27], followed by further contributions of Inomata [58]
and Duru and Kleinert [28], Ho and Inomata [55] Grinberg, Mara non and Vucetich
[41,42] and Kleinert [62].
The transformation in the two-dimensional case corresponds to the two-dimensional
realization of the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation and we must look for a general-
ization. However, we have a the relevant space R
3
whereas the relevant Kustaanheimo-
Stiefel transformation maps R
4
R
3
which means that the transformation in ques-
tion is not one-to-one. We have namely [28]
_
_
x
1
x
2
x
3
_
_
=
_
_
_
u
3
u
4
u
1
u
2
u
2
u
1
u
4
u
3
u
1
u
2
u
3
u
4
u
4
u
3
u
2
u
1
_
_
_
_
_
_
u
1
u
2
u
3
u
4
_
_
_
, (5.46)
or in matrix notation x = A u with x R
3
and u R
4
, respectively. Several
modications of the matrix A are used in the literature, e.g. [10,11]
A =
_
_
_
u
3
u
4
u
1
u
2
u
4
u
3
u
2
u
1
u
1
u
2
u
3
u
4
u
2
u
1
u
4
u
3
_
_
_, (5.46b)
and see [66] as well. The transformation has the property A
t
A = u
2
1
+u
2
2
+u
2
3
+u
2
4
=
r = |x| and no Jacobean exist. However, a fourth coordinate can be described by
x
4
(s) = 2
_
s
s
(u
4
u
1
u
3
u
2
+u
2
u
3
u
1
u
4
)d. (5.47)
Therefore we must circumvent this problem. The idea [27,58] goes at follows: We
consider the lattice formulation of equation (5.45) and introduce a factor one by
68
3
- The Hydrogen Atom
means of
1 =
_
m
2 i hT
_

exp
_
m
2 i hT
(
)
2
_
= lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
N
j=1
_

d
(j)
exp
_
i m
2 h
(j)
_
(5.48)
which gives for equation (5.45)
K(x
, x
; T) =
_

lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
2N
N1
j=1
_
d
3
x
(j)
_

d
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
(
2
x
(j)
+
2
(j)
) +
Z e
2
r
(j)
_
_
_
_
(5.49)
with the to-be-dened quantity r
(j)
. We now realize the transformation A(u) on
midpoints [58] u
(j)
a
=
1
2
(u
(j)
a
+u
(j1)
a
) (we use in the following the abbreviation x
4
):
x
(j)
a
= 2
4
b=1
A
ab
( u
(j)
)u
(j)
b
(5.50)
We have
A
t
( u
(j)
) A( u
(j)
) = u
(j) 2
1
+ u
(j) 2
2
+ u
(j) 2
3
+ u
(j) 2
4
=: r
(j)
(5.51)
which denes r
(j)
. Furthermore
2
x
(j)
1
+
2
x
(j)
2
+
2
x
(j)
3
+
2
x
(j)
4
= 4 r
(j)
_
2
u
(j)
1
+
2
u
(j)
2
+
2
u
(j)
3
+
2
u
(j)
4
=: 4 r
(j)
2
u
(j)
. (5.52)
Innitesimal this has the form dx
(j)
a
= 2A
ab
( u
(j)
)du
(j)
a
(sums over repeated indices
understood) and the Jacobean of this transformation exists and is given by
(x
1
, x
2
, x
3
, )
(u
1
, u
2
, u
3
, u
4
)
= 2
4
r
(j) 2
. (5.53)
Thus we arrive at the transformed classical Lagrangian
L(u, u) = 2mu
2
u
2
+
Z e
2
u
2
. (5.54)
We now repeat the reasoning of the previous Section by observing that under the
time-transformation equation (5.22)
s(t) =
_
t
t
d
4r()
, s
= s(t
)
69
Important Examples
and its lattice denition 4 r
(j)
s
(j)
= 4 u
(j) 2
(j)
the measure in the path integral
transforms according to
N
j=1
_
m
2 i h
_
2
N1
j=1
(2 u
(j)
)
4
d
4
u
(j)
=
1
(4r
)
2
N
j=1
_
m
2 i h
(j)
_
2
N1
j=1
d
4
u
(j)
. (5.55)
Respecting again equation (II.4.35a) which produces a factor 4r
we get the path

integral transformation
K(x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
G(x
, x
; E)
G(x
, x
; E) = i
_

0
ds
e
4 i Z e
2
s
/ h

K(u
, u
; s
)
(5.56)
where the space-time transformed path integral

K is given by
K(u
, u
; s
)
=
1
4r
lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_
2N
N1
j=1
_
d
4
u
(j)
exp
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
2
u
(j)
+ 4E u
(j) 2
_
_
_
=
_
m
2 i hsin s
_
2
_

4r
exp
_
m
2 i h
_
(u
2
+ u
2
) cot s
2
u
sin s
__
.
(5.57)
Here we have used once again the known solution for the harmonic oscillator, where
we have actually a four-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator with frequency
=
_
8E/m. Note that the factor 1/r
has not been canceled as in the two-

dimensional case.
Up to now we have not discussed the problem of an eventually quantum correction
appearing in the transformation procedure. As usual we consider the Legendre
transformed Hamiltonian
H
E
=
h
2
2m
(3)
Z e
2
r
E. (5.58)
Let us write H
E
in the coordinates:
u
1
= ucos cos
u
2
= ucos sin
u
3
= usincos
u
4
= usinsin
(u = |u| =
r, =

2
, = )
(0 , 0 2)
_
_
(5.59)
70
3
- The Hydrogen Atom
Then the Schr odinger equation in polar coordinates
_
h
2
2
_

2
r
2
+
2
r
r
+
1
r
2
L
2
_
Z e
2
r
E
_
(r, , ) = 0 (5.60)
is transformed into
_
h
2
2
1
4s
2
_

2
s
2
+
3
s
s
4K
2
_
Z e
2
s
2
E
_
(u) = 0 (5.61)
with
K
2
=

2
2
(tan cot )

1
sin
2
2
cos
2
2
(5.62)
is the Casimir-operator of the group SO(4). Writing back into u
1
, . . . , u
4
we get for
H
E
in the coordinates q R
4
:
H = 4u
2

H
E
=
1
2m
4
4Z e
2
4Eu
2
and with p
u
k
= i h/u
k
:
H
eff
(p
u
, q) =
1
2m
4
k=1
p
2
u
k
4Z e
2
4Eu
2
. (5.63)
and no quantum correction appears. Therefore equation (5.57) is correct.
To perform the
-integration in equation (5.57) we introduce polar coordinates

u
1
=
r sin

2
cos
+
2
u
2
=
r sin

2
sin
+
2
u
3
=
r cos

2
cos

2
u
4
=
r cos

2
sin

2
_
_
_
0
0 2
0 4
_
_
_
. (5.64)
We have with equation (5.47)
(s) =
_
s
0
(
cos
)r()d. (5.65)
The polar coordinates give the expansion
u
_
sin

2
sin

2
cos
_
2
_
+ cos

2
cos

2
cos
_
2
__
(5.66)
71
Important Examples
Using the expansion
e
z cos
=
=
e
i
I
(z) (5.67)
twice, respecting due to the explicit form of (s) from equation (5.65) above
_

d(s
)
r
=
_
4
0
d (5.68)
and that the integration over
yields 4
2
we get for the resolvent kernel:
G(x
, x
; E) =
i
_

0
ds
_
m
2 i hsin s
_
2
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
s
h

m
2 i h
(r
+r
) cot s
=
e
i (
)
I
_
m
i hsin s
sin

2
sin

2
_
I
_
m
i hsin s
cos

2
cos

2
_
. (5.69)
The last sum can be exactly performed with the help of
_
z
1
z
2
e
i
z
1
z
2
e
i
_
2
I
_
_
z
2
1
+z
2
2
2z
1
z
2
cos
_
=
n=
(1)
n
I
n
(z
2
)I
+n
(z
1
) e
i n
,
(5.70)
in particular
=
e
i
I
(z)I
(z
) = I
0
_
_
z
2
+ z
2
+ 2zz
cos
_
, (5.71)
and the trigonometric expressions sin
2
2
=
1
2
(1 cos ) and cos
2
2
=
1
2
(1 + cos ).
Thus
G(x
, x
; E) =
i
_

0
ds
_
m
2 i hsin s
_
2
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
s
h

m
2 i h
(r
+r
) cot s
_
I
0
_
m
i hsins
cos

2
_
, (5.72)
where cos = cos
cos
+ sin
sin
cos(
). The I
0
-Bessel function can be
expanded in terms of Legendre-polynomials:
I
0
_
z cos

2
_
=
2
z
l=0
(2l + 1)P
l
(cos )I
2l+1
(z). (5.73)
This relation can be derived from the general expansion
_
kz
2
_
(kz) = k
l=0
( + l)
l!(1 +)
(1)
l
(2l + )
2
F
1
(l, l + ; 1 + ; k
2
)I
2l+
(z).
(5.74)
72
3
- The Hydrogen Atom
Equation (5.73) is recovered with the identications = 1, = 0, k = cos

2
and
P
l
(z) = (1)
l
2
F
1
(l, l + 1; 1;
z+1
2
). Thus the resolvent kernel can be expanded
according to
G(x
, x
; E) = G(r
, r
; E)
=
1
4
l=0
(2l + 1)P
l
(cos )G
l
(r
, r
; E) (5.75)
=
l=0
l
n=l
Y
n
l
(
)Y
n
l
(
)G
l
(r
, r
; E),
(5.76)
where the radial Green function G
l
(E) is given by
G
l
(r
, r
; E)
=
2m
h
_

0
ds
sin s
exp
_
4 i Z e
2
s
h

m
2 i h
(r
+r
) cot s
_
I
2l+1
_
m
i hsin s
_
=
1
r
m
2E
1
(2l + 1)!
_
1 + l +
i Z e
2
h
_
m
2E
_
W
Z e
2
h
m
2E
,l+
1
2
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
M
Z e
2
h
m
2E
,l+
1
2
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
. (5.77)
From the poles of the -function at z = n
r
= 0, 1, 2, . . . we read o the bound
state energy levels which are given by
E
N
=
mZ
2
e
4
2 h
2
N
2
, (N = n
r
+ l + 1 = 1, 2, 3, . . . ) (5.78)
which are the well-known Balmer levels.
The determination of the wave functions is analogous to the previous two-
dimensional case and thus we only state the result for the bound state wave
functions of the hydrogen atom:
N,l,n
(r, , ) =
2
N
2
_
(N l 1)!
a
3
(N +l)!
_1
2
exp
_
r
aN
__
2r
aN
_
l
L
(2l+1)
Nl1
_
2r
aN
_
Y
n
l
(, ).
(5.79)
A quite complicated attempt was made by Grinberg, Mara non and Vucetich [41]
to determine these functions from the wave functions of the corresponding four-
dimensional oscillator. The continuous state wave functions of the hydrogen
atom read as:
p,l,n
(r, , ) =
1
2(2l + 1)!r
_
1 +l +
i
ap
_
exp
_

2ap
_
M i
ap
,l+
1
2
(2 i pr)Y
n
l
(, ).
(5.80)
73
Important Examples
Of course, these wave functions form a complete set. The spectrum of the continuous
states is, of course, given by
E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
, (p > 0). (5.81)
These results coincides with the operator approach. The complete Feynman kernel
therefore reads
K(x
, x
; T) =
l=0
N=1
e
i TE
N
/ h
N,l
(r
)
N,l
(r
)
+
l=0
_

0
dp e
i TE
p
/ h
p,l
(r
)
p,l
(r
) (5.82)
with wave functions as given in equations (5.79) and (5.80) and energy spectrum
equations (5.78) and (5.81), respectively.
5.3. Coulomb Potential and 1/r-Potential in D Dimensions [15, 55, 91]
In this Section we discuss the 1/r-potential in D dimensions. For D = 3 we have, of
course, the Coulomb problem. The whole calculation is quite similar as in the previous
cases, we just have to use a Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation in one dimension.
The D-dimensional path integral problem was rst discussed by Chetouani and
Hammann [15], whereas the radial problem by Ho and Inomata [55] and [91].
We start with the D-dimensional path integral with the singular potential V (r) =
q
1
q
2
/r, where r = |x| (x R
D
):
K(x
, x
; T) =
x(t
)=x
_
x(t
)=x
Dx(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
x
2
+
q
1
q
2
|x|
_
dt
_
. (5.83)
We denote the coupling by q
1
q
2
to emphasize the possibility that two charges q
1
and q
2
can interact which each other. As we have studied very explicitly in Section
III.3.1, the angular variables can be integrated out yielding
K(x
, x
; T) =
l=0
S
(D)
l
({
})S
(D)
l
({
})K
l
(r
, r
; T), (5.84)
where the radial kernel K
l
(T) is given by
K
l
(r
, r
; T)
= (r
)
1D
2
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
h
2
(l +
D
2
1)
2
1
4
2mr
2
+
q
1
q
2
r
_
dt
_
(r
)
1D
2
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t)
l+
D
2
1
[r
2
] exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
+
q
1
q
2
r
_
dt
_
. (5.85)
74
III.5.3 Coulomb Potential and 1/r-Potential in D Dimensions
The S
(D)
l
({}) are the hyperspherical harmonics on the S
D1
-sphere. The correspond-
ing Hamiltonian to the path integral (5.85) has the form
H =
h
2
2m
_
d
2
dr
2
+
D1
r
d
dr
_
+ h
2
l(l + D2)
2mr
2

q
1
q
2
r
=
1
2m
p
2
r
+ h
2
(l +
D
2
1)
2
1
4
2mr
2

q
1
q
2
r
(5.86)
with the momentum operators equation (3.45). We now perform the space-time
transformation
s(t) =
_
t
t
d
4r()
, s
= s(t
), r = F(u) = u
2
(5.87)
with f = 4u
2
, thus that F
2
= f and we get the space-time formed Hamiltonian
H =
1
2m
p
2
u
+ h
2
(2l +D 2)
2
1
4
2mu
2
4Eu
2
4q
1
q
2
(5.88)
with the momentum operator
p
u
=
h
i
_
d
du
+
2D3
2u
_
. (5.89)
Here we have applied the results of space-time transformations for one-dimensional
Hamiltonians. Thus we get the transformation formul
K
l
(r
, r
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
G
l
(r
, r
; E)
G
l
(r
, r
; E) = 2 i(u
)
3
2
D
_

0
ds
e
4 i q
1
q
2
s
/ h

K
l
(u
, u
; s
),
(5.90)
where the kernel

K
l
(s
) is given by
K
l
(u
, u
; s
)
=
u(t
)=u
_
u(t
)=u
Du(s)
2l+D2
[u
2
] exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
u
2
+ 4Eu
2
_
ds
_
=
m
i hsin T
exp
_
m
2 i h
(u
2
+ u
2
) cot T
_
I
2l+D2
_
mu
i hsinT
_
, (5.91)
with =
_
8E/m. The Green function we obtain in the usual way with the result
G
l
(r
, r
; E)
= (r
)
2D
2
2m
h
_

0
ds
sin s
exp
_
4 i q
1
q
2
s
h

m
2 hi
(r
+ r
) cot s
_
I
2l+D2
_
m
i hsin s
_
= (r
)
1D
2
_
m
2E
_
l +
D1
2

q
1
q
2
h
_
m
2E
_
(2l +D 2)!
Wq
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,l+
D2
2
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
Mq
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,l+
D2
2
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
. (5.92)
75
Important Examples
Thus it is easy to display the wave functions and spectrum for the discrete contribution
for the D-dimensional 1/r-problem [a = h
2
/(m|q
1
q
2
|), n N]:
N,l
(r, {}) =
_
1
2(N +
D3
2
)
(N l 1)!
(N + l +D 3)!
_1
2
_
2
a(N +
D3
2
)
_
D/2
_
2r
a(N +
D3
2
)
_
l
exp
_
r
a(N +
D3
2
)
_
L
(2l+D2)
Nl1
_
2r
a(N +
D3
2
)
_
S
(D)
l
({})
(5.93a)
= (1)
Nl1
_
1
N +
D3
2
__
1
a(N +l + D3)!(N L 1)!
_1
2
r
D1
2
W
N+
D3
2
,l+
D2
2
_
2r
a(N +
D3
2
)
_
S
(D)
l
({})
(5.93b)
E
N
=
mq
2
1
q
2
2
2 h
2
(N +
D3
2
)
2
, (N = 1, 2, . . . ) (5.94)
For the continuous spectrum we get similarly
p,l
(r, {}) = r
1D
2
_
l +
D1
2
+
i
ap
_
2(2l + D2)!
exp
_
mq
2
1
q
2
2
2 h
2
p
_
M i
ap
,l+
D2
2
(2 i pr)S
(D)
l
({}) (5.95)
with E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
. The complete Green function thus has the form
G(x
, x
; E) =
N=1
l=0
exp
_
i T
mq
2
1
q
2
2
2 h
3
(N +
D3
2
)
2
_
N,l
(r
, {
})
N,l
(r
, {
})
+
l=0
_

0
exp
_
i hT
p
2
2m
_
p,l
(r
, {
})
p,l
(r
, {
}). (5.96)
Finally we can state the following path integral identity
_
=
_
8E/m
_
:
_
Dr(t)
[r
2
] exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
+

r
_
dt
_
=
2m
i h
_

dE e
i TE h
_

0
ds
sin s
exp
_
4is
h

m
2 i h
(r
+r
) cot s
_
I
2
_
m
r
i hsin s
_
= i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
_
m
2E
( +
1
2

q
1
q
2
h
_
m
2E
)
(2 + 1)
76
Wq
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
Mq
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
= i h
_

0
dE e
i TE
_

n=0
1
E
n
E
n
(r
)
n
(r
) +
_

dp
E
p
E
p
(r
)
p
(r
).
_
(5.97)
The discrete state wave functions and energy spectrum are given by (a = h
2
/mq
1
q
2
)
n
(r) =
1
n + +
1
2
_
n!
a(n + 2 + 1)
_1
2
_
2r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
+
1
2
exp
_
r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
L
(2)
n
_
2r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
(5.98a)
=
(1)
n
n + +
1
2
_
1
an!(n + 2 + 1)
_1
2
W
n++
1
2
,
_
2r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
(5.98b)
E
n
=
m
2
2 h
2
(n + +
1
2
)
2
. (5.99)
For the continuous states we have similarly for the wave functions and the energy
spectrum
p
(r) =
_
1
2
( +
1
2

i
ap
)
(2 + 1)
exp
_

2ap
_
M i
ap
,
(2 i pr) (5.100)
with E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
. In particular this gives the identities
m
i hk
(
1
2
+ )
(1 + 2)
W
,
(2 i kr
>
)M
,
(2 i kr
<
)
=
m
hk
n
n!
(n + 2 + 1)
1
n + +
1
2

exp
_
k(r
+ r
)
_
(4k
2
r
)
+
1
2
L
(2)
n
(2kr
)L
(2)
n
(2kr
)
+
1
2
m
hk
_

dp e
p
p i
(
1
2
+ + ip)(
1
2
+ i p)
2
(1 + 2)
M
i p,
(2 i kr
)M
i p,
(2 i kr
), (5.101)
or alternatively (and explicitly, = (q
1
q
2
/h)
_
m/2E)
_
m
2E
(
1
2
+ )
(1 + 2)
W
,
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
M
,
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
= h
n=1
1
E
n
E
n
(r
)
n
(r
) + h
_

0
dp
E
p
E
p
(r
)
p
(r
). (5.102)
77
Important Examples
Let us note that it is not dicult to analyze the Green function by taking the n
th
residuum in equation (5.92). Using the appropriate expansion for the -function again
we get
G(r
, r
; E) =
n=0
(1)
n
n!
1
n +
1
2
+
q
1
q
2
h
_
m
2E
n
_
m
2E
n
1
(2 + 1)
W
n++
1
2
,
_
2r
>
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
M
n++
1
2
,
_
2r
<
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
+ regular terms (5.103)
which gives using the relations of the Whittaker-functions with the Laguerre-polyno-
mials the wave functions (5.92) and the energy spectrum (5.94). In particular we have
for D = 1
n
(x) =
_
1
an
3
_1
2
2r
an
e
r/an
L
(1)
n
_
2r
an
_
, (5.104)
E
n
=
mZ
2
e
4
2 h
2
n
2
, n N (5.105)
p
(x) =
1
_
1
i
ap
_
e
/2ap
M i
ap
,
1
2
(2 i pr). (5.106)
Because, the domains x < 0 and x > 0 are separated the wave-functions (5.104,5.106)
are doubly degenerated.
We can study several special cases (see [15]):
i) We rst consider D = 2 and get
G(x
, x
; E)
=
(r
1
2
2
_
m
2E
l=
_
|l|
i q
1
q
2
h
_
m
2E
_
(2|l|)!
e
i l(
)
Wi q
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,|l|
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
M
i q
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,|l|
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
=
2m
h
_

0
du
sinh u
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
(r
+r
) cothu
_
1
2
l=
e
i l(
)
I
2l
_
2
2mE
hsinh u
_
=
m
h
_

0
du
sinh u
cosh
_
8mE
hsinh u
cos

2
_
.
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
_
2mE
h
2
(r
+ r
) cosh u
_
. (5.107)
This is equivalent with equation (5.29).
78
ii) We consider D arbitrary. The Green function reads in the integral representation,
where we expand in addition the hyperspherical harmonics in terms of Gegenbauer-
polynomials
G(x
, x
; E) =
2m
h
(r
)
2D
2
_

0
du
sinh u
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
(r
+r
) cothu
_
l=0
(2l +D 2)(
D2
2
)
4
D/2
C
D2
2
l
(cos
(1,2)
)I
2l+D2
_
2
2mE
hsinh u
_
. (5.108)
The l-summation can be performed by means of equation (5.74) and taking into
account that we have for the Gegenbauer-polynomials
C
n
(cos ) =
(n + 2)
n!(2)
2
F
1
_
2 +n, n; +
1
2
; sin
2

2
_
= (1)
n
(n + 2)
n!(2)
2
F
1
_
2 +n, n; +
1
2
; cos
2

2
_
.
(5.109)
Thus we get
G(x
, x
; E)
=
2m
h
(r
)
2D
2
(4)
1D
2
_

0
du
sinh u
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
(r
+r
) cothu
_
l=0
(1)
l
(2l + D2)
(l + D2)
l!(
D1
2
)
2
F
1
_
l + D2, l;
D1
2
; cos
2

(1,2)
2
_
I
2l+d2
_
2
2mE
hsinh u
_
=
2m
h
_
4h
2mE
_
1D
2
_
cos

(1,2)
2
_
3D
2
_

0
du
(sinh u)
D+1
2
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
(r
+r
) cothu
_
ID3
2
_
2
2mE
hsinh u
cos

(1,2)
2
_
(5.110)
Alternatively this can be written as
G(x
, x
; E)
=
2m
h
_
4h
2mE
_
1D
2
_
r
+x
2
_
3D
4
_

0
du
(sinh u)
D+1
2
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
(r
+r
) cothu
_
ID3
2
_
2
2mE
hsinh u
_
r
+ x
2
_
=
m
h
_
2h
2mE
_
1D
2
(x
2
y
2
)
3D
4
_

0
du
(sinh u)
D+1
2
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
x cothu
_
ID3
2
_
2mE
_
x
2
y
2
hsinh u
_
, (5.111)
79
Important Examples
where x = r
+ r
and y = |x
|. For D = 2 we recover, of course, equations

(5.29,5.107) with I
1
2
(z) = (2/z)
1
2
cosh z.
D = 1 yields with
(1,2)
2:
G(x
, x
; E)
=
2m
h
_

0
du
sinh u
exp
_
q
1
q
2
h
_
2m
E
u
2mE
h
(x
+x
) cothu
_
I
1
_
2
2mE
hsinh u
_
=
_
m
2E

_
1
q
1
q
2
h
_
m
2E
_
Wq
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,
1
2
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
>
_
Mq
1
q
2
h
m
2E
,
1
2
_
_
8mE
h
2
r
<
_
. (5.112)
Furthermore one can show, by using the relation:
_
d
zdz
_
m
_
I
(z)
z
_
=
I
+m
(z)
z
+m
that the D-dimensional Green function for the 1/r-potential is connected with the
(D2)-dimensional Green function by the relation
G
D
(x|y; E) =
1
2y
y
G
D2
(x|y; E). (5.113)
Therefore
G
D
(x|y; E) =
_

2yy
_
D1
2
G
1
(x|y; E), D = 1, 3, 5, . . . ,
(5.114)
G
D
(x|y; E) =
_

2yy
_
D2
2
G
2
(x|y; E), D = 2, 4, 6, . . . .
(5.115)
80
III.5.5 Axially Symmetric Coulomb-Like Potential
5.4. Axially Symmetric Coulomb-Like Potential [7-13, 46-48, 88, 89]
It is possible to consider the even more complicated potential problem, namely [46]
L
Cl
=
m
2
( x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
) +
q
2
_
x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
bh
2
2m
1
x
2
+y
2

ch
2
2m
z
(x
2
+ y
2
)
_
x
2
+y
2
+z
2
(5.116a)
=
m
2
( r
2
+ r
2

2
+r
2
sin
2
2
) +
q
2
r

bh
2
2mr
2
sin
2
ch
2
2m
cos
r
2
sin
2
(5.116b)
=
m
2
(
2
+
2
)(

2
+
2
) +
m
2

2
2
+
2q
2
2
+
2

bh
2
2m
2
2

ch
2
m
2
(
2
+
2
)
.
(5.116c)
Here I have displayed the corresponding classical Lagrangian in cartesian, polar and
parabolic coordinates. It belongs to the class of potentials mentioned long ago by
Makarov, Smorodinsky, Valiev and Winternitz [71] which are separable in a specic
coordinate system and furthermore exactly solvable. This potential was discussed by
Carpio-Bernido, Bernido and Inomata [10] starting from cartesian coordinates and
using the four-dimensional realization of the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation.
However, this potential is separable in polar as well as parabolic coordinates and we
shall give the explicit calculation for all of them.
1) Cartesian coordinates
In our line of reasoning we follow reference [10], however with some simplications be-
cause we have already discussed the realization of the four-dimensional Kustaanheimo-
Stiefel in the discussion of the hydrogen atom. We consider the path integral repre-
sentation corresponding to equation (5.116b)
K(x
, x
; T) = lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_3N
2
N1
j=1
_
dx
(j)
dy
(j)
dz
(j)
exp
_
_
_
i
h
N
j=1
_
m
2
(
2
x
(j)
+
2
y
(j)
+
2
z
(j)
) +
q
2
r
(j)
bh
2
2m
1
r
(j) 2
z
(j) 2

ch
2
2m
z
(j)
r
(j)
(r
(j) 2
z
(j) 2
)
_
_
_
_
. (5.117)
Similarly to equation (5.45) we insert a factor one
1 = lim
N
_
m
2 i h
_N
2
N
j=1
_

d
(j)
exp
_
i m
2h
(j)
_
. (5.118)
81
Important Examples
We repeat the steps from equations (5.49) to (5.57), i.e. we realise the four-dimensional
Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation on midpoints and arrive together with the
transformation formul
K(x
, x
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i TE/ h
G(x
, x
; E)
G(x
, x
; E) = i
_

0
ds
e
4 i q
2
s
/ h

K(u
, u
; s
),
(5.119)
with the transformed path integral
K(u
, u
; s
) =
1
4r

K
1
(u
1
, u
1
, u
2
, u
2
; s
)

K
2
(u
3
, u
3
, u
4
, u
4
; s
), (5.120)
and the kernels K
1
(s
), K
2
(s
), respectively, are given by
K
1
(u
1
, u
1
, u
2
, u
2
; s
)
=
u
1
(t
)=u
1
_
u
1
(t
)=u
1
Du
1
(s)
u
2
(t
)=u
2
_
u
2
(t
)=u
2
Du
2
(s)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
( u
2
1
+ u
2
2
) + 4E(u
2
1
+ u
2
2
)
(b +c) h
2
2m(u
2
1
+u
2
2
)
_
ds
_
=
1
(t
)=
1
_
1
(t
)=
1
D
1
(s)
1
(t
)=
1
_
1
(t
)=
1
D
1
(s)
exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
(
2
1
+
2
1

2
1
) + 4E
2
1
h
2
b + c
1
4
2m
2
1
_
ds
_
(5.121)
=
1
2
_
1
=
e
i
1
(
1
)
1
(t
)=
1
_
1
(t
)=
1
D
1
(s) exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2

2
1
+ 4E
2
1
h
2
b +c +
2
1
4
2m
2
1
_
ds
_
=
m
2 i hsin s
1
=
e
i
1
(
1
)
exp
_
m
2 i h
(
1
2
+
1
2
) cot s
_
I
1
_
m
1
i hsin s
_
. (5.122)
Here we have introduced two-dimensional polar coordinates u
1
=
1
cos
1
, u
2
=
1
sin
1
, separated the
1
and the
1
path integration in the usual way, applied
82
the solution of the radial harmonic oscillator and have used the abbreviations =
_
8E/m,
1
= +
2
+ b + c. Similarly
K
2
(u
3
, u
3
, u
4
, u
4
; s
) =
m
2 i hsin s
2
=
e
i
2
(
2
)
exp
_
m
2 i h
(
2
2
+
2
2
) cot s
_
I
2
_
m
2
i hsin s
_
(5.123)
with u
3
=
2
cos
2
, u
4
=
2
sin
2
,
2
= +
2
+ b c. We identify variables [Cayley-
Klein parameters, c.f.equation (5.59)]
1
=
r cos

2
1
=
+
2
2
=
r sin

2
2
=

2
(5.124)
(0 , 0 2, 0 4, d
= r
). Collecting factors we thus obtain

G(x
, x
; E) =
i
_

0
ds
_
m
2 i hsin s
_
2
exp
_
4 i q
2
s
h

m
2 i h
(r
+ r
) cot s
=
e
i (
)
I
1
_
m
i hsin s
sin

2
sin

2
_
I
2
_
m
i hsin s
cos

2
cos

2
_
.
(5.125)
(Compare with equation (5.69)). Using the addition theorem [31, Vol.II, p.99]:
z
2
J
(z cos cos )J
(z sin sin)
= (sin sin )
(cos cos )
l=0
(1)
l
( + + 2l + 1)
( + +l + 1)( + l + 1)
l!
2
( + 1)(l + + 1)
J
++2l+1
(z)
2
F
1
(l, + + l + 1; + 1; sin
2
)
2
F
1
(l, + +l + 1; + 1; sin
2
).
(5.126)
we get in the usual way by performing he s
integration
G(x
, x
; E)
=
1
2
=
e
i (
)
_
sin

2
sin

2
_
1
_
cos

2
cos

2
_
l=0
(
1
+
2
+ 2l + 1)
(
1
+
2
+ l + 1)(
1
+l + 1)
l!
2
(
1
+ 1)(
2
+ l + 1)
83
Important Examples
2
F
1
_
l,
1
+
2
+ l + 1;
1
+ 1; sin
2

2
_
2
F
1
_
l,
1
+
2
+ l + 1;
1
+ 1; sin
2

2
_
h
_

0
ds
sin s
e
4 i q
2
s
/ h
exp
_
m
2 i h
(r
+r
) cot s
_
I
1
+
2
+2l+1
_
m
i hsin s
_
=
1
2
=
e
i (
l=0
(
1
+
2
+ 2l + 1)
2
(
1
+
2
+l + 1)l!
(
1
+ l + 1)(
2
+ l + 1)
_
sin

2
sin

2
_
1
_
cos

2
cos

2
_
2
P
(
1
,
2
)
l
(cos
)P
(
1
,
2
)
l
(cos
1
r
m
2E
[
1
2
(
1
+
2
) + l + 1 p]
(
1
+
2
+ 2l + 2)
W
p,l+
1+
1
+
2
2
(2 i kr
>
)M
p,l+
1+
1
+
2
2
(2 i kr
<
). (5.127)
with the abbreviations p = q
2
_
m/2Eh
2
, k =
+2mE/h. This is the result of

reference [10]. The energy-levels are determined by the poles of the -function and
are given by
E
n
=
mq
4
2 h
2
(n + l + 1 +

1
+
2
2
)
2
, n N
0
. (5.128)
The corresponding wave functions will be calculated below, where we separate the
radial from the angular path integrations directly.
2) Polar coordinates
We consider the path integral corresponding the Lagrangian (5.116a):
K(x
, x
; T)
=
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
sin D(t)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t)
exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
( r
2
+r
2

2
+ r
2
sin
2
2
)
+
q
2
r

bh
2
2mr
2
sin
2
ch
2
2m
cos
r
2
sin
2
+
h
2
8m
_
1 +
1
sin
2
__
dt
_
=
1
2
=
e
i (
)
K
(r
, r
; T) (5.129)
with the kernel K
(T), which in turn is also separated:

K
(r
, r
; T)
84
= (r
sin
sin
1
2
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t)
exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
( r
2
+r
2

2
) h
2
2
+ b + c cos
1
4
2mr
2
sin
2
+
q
2
r
+
h
2
8mr
2
_
dt
_
= (r
sin
sin
1
2
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
rDr(t)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
+
4m
2
r
2
_

2
_
2
h
2
2
+b + c
1
4
8mr
2
sin
2
h
2
2
+ b c
1
4
8mr
2
cos
2
+
q
2
r
+
h
2
8mr
2
_
dt
_
=
l=0
(
1
,
2
)
l
(
)
(
1
,
2
)
l
(
)K
l
(r
, r
; T), (5.130)
the (Poschl-Teller) wave functions
(
2
,
1
)
l
() =
_
1
+
2
+ 2l + 1
2
1+
1
+
2
l! (
1
+
2
+ l + 1)
(
1
+ l + 1)(
2
+ l + 1)
_1
2
(1 cos )
1
2
(1 + cos )
2
2
P
(
1
,
2
)
l
(cos ), (5.131)
(
1,2
as before) and the radial path integral
K
l
(r
, r
; T) =
1
r
r(t
)=r
_
r(t
)=r
Dr(t) exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
r
2
+
q
2
r
h
2
1
4
2mr
2
_
dt
_
(5.132)
_
=
1
2
(
1
+
2
+2l +1]
. This path integral is nothing but a Coulomb potential path

integral, however with generalized angular momentum. Thus we just analytically
continue the known result in l and obtain
G
(r
, r
; E) =
1
r
m
2E
( + 1 p)
(2 + 2)
W
p,+
1
2
(2 i kr
>
)M
p,+
1
2
(2 i kr
<
).
(5.133)
The energy spectrum was already stated in equation (5.128) and the corresponding
85
Important Examples
wave functions are
(r, , ) =
e
i
(
1
,
2
)
l
()
_
2
(n + +
1
2
)
2
_
n!
a
3
(n + +
1
2
)(n + 2 + 2)
_1
2
_
2r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
exp
_
r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
L
(2+1)
n
_
2r
a(n + +
1
2
)
_
_
1
2
( +
1
2
+
i
ap
)
r(2 + 2)
exp
_

2ap
_
M i
ap
,+
1
2
(2 i pr)
(5.134)
and a denotes the Bohr radius.
3) Parabolic coordinates
The potential described in equation (5.116c) is also separable in parabolic coordinates,
in the operator approach as well in the path integral formalism. We consider the path
integral formulation corresponding to the Lagrangian (5.116c):
K(x
, x
; T) K(
; T)
=
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t)(
2
+
2
)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t)
exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
(
2
+
2
)(
2
+
2
) +
m
2

2
2
+
2q
2
2
+
2

h
2
(b
1
4
)
2m
2
2

ch
2
m
2
(
2
+
2
)
_
dt
_
=
1
2
=
e
i (
)
K
; T) (5.135)
with the kernel K
(T)
K
; T) = (
1
2
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(t)
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
D(
2
+
2
)
exp
_
i
h
_
t
_
m
2
(
2
+
2
)(

2
+
2
)
+
2q
2
2
+
2
h
2
b +
2
1
4
2m
2
2

ch
2
m
2
(
2
+
2
)
_
dt
_
(5.136)
This path integral is now tracked by a time-transformation according to
=

2
(j)
+
2
(j)
, s(t) =
_
t
t
2
() +
2
()
, (5.137)
86
therefore
K
; T) =
1
2 i h
_

dE e
i ET/ h
G
; E)
G
; E) = i
_

0
ds
e
2 i q
2
s
/ h

K
; s
)
(5.138)
with (note that this is a two-dimensional time-transformation and the prefactor is
one):
; s
) =

K
1
(
; s
)

K
2
(
; s
). (5.139)
This gives for the kernels

K
1,2
(s
K
1
(
; s
) =
1
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
1
[
2
]D(s) exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2
2
+E
2
_
ds
_
=
m
i hsin s
exp
_
m
2 i h
(
2
+
2
) cot s
_
I
1
_
m
i hsin s
_
(5.140)
with =
_
2E/m,
1
= +
2
+ b +c. Similarly for

K
2
(s
K
2
(
; s
) =
1
(t
)=
_
(t
)=
2
[
2
] exp
_
i
h
_
s
0
_
m
2

2
+ E
2
_
ds
_
=
m
i hsin s
exp
_
m
2 i h
(
2
+
2
) cot s
_
I
2
_
m
i hsin s
_
(5.141)
(
2
= +
2
+ b c). Integrating over s
yields
G
(bound)
(x
, x
; E) = h
n
1
,n
2
=0
N
(
)
N
(
)
E
N
E
(5.142)
with the energy spectrum (note = q
2
/hN)
E
N
=
mq
4
2 h
2
N
2
, N = n
1
+ n
2
+ 1 +

1
+
2
2
. (5.143)
The wave functions have the form
,n
1
,n
2
(, , ) =
e
i
2
_
2
a
2
N
3

2n
1
!n
2
!
(n
1
+
1
+ 1)(n
2
+
2
+ 1)
_1
2
_

aN
_
1
_

aN
_
2
exp
_

2
+
2
2aN
_
L
(
1
)
n
1
_

2
aN
_
L
(
2
)
n
2
_

2
aN
_
. (5.144)
87
Important Examples
For the continuous spectrum we obtain
G
(cont.)
(x
, x
; E) = h
=
_

0
dp
_

p,,
(
)
p,,
(
)
E
p
E
(5.145)
with
E
p
=
h
2
p
2
2m
(5.146)
and the wave functions
p,,
(, , ) =
e
i
(2)
3
2
[
1+
1
2
+
i
2
( +
i
ap
)][
1+
2
2
+
i
2
(
i
ap
)]
(1 +
1
)(1 +
2
)
M
i
2
(+
i
ap
),
1
2
(i p
2
)M
i
2
(
i
ap
),
2
2
(i p
2
). (5.147)
Finally we state the relation of the Green function in parabolic coordinates. We have
G(
; E) =
i
2
_
m
i h
_
2
=
e
i (
_

0
ds
sin
2
s
1
_
m
i hsin s
_
I
2
_
m
i hsin s
_
exp
_
2 i q
2
h
s
m
2 i h
(
2
+
2
+
2
+
2
) cot s
_
. (5.148)
Note the similarity to the u
1
, u
2
, u
3
, u
4
approach. Actually the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel
approach in cartesian coordinates produces a separation in parabolic coordinates. We
switch bach to polar coordinates by means of
2
= r + z = r(1 + cos ) = 2r cos
2

2
2
= r z = r(1 cos ) = 2r sin
2

2
(5.149)
Using again the addition theorem (5.126) with a rescaling s
2s
, /2 so that
=
_
8E/m we recover the Green function (5.125).
Let us nally note that even more complicated Coulomb-like potentials can be
exactly solved [47, 48] which are, however, only separable in parabolic coordinates.
88
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An Introduction Into The Feynman Path Integral - Grosche

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a

with weight factor exp

. Due to the semigroup property

)/N, N , D = dimension of the Euclidean

from coordinates q, p. This produces the mapping

(p, q) and has the form

, respectively, produces a particular Hamiltonian function,

), < q|p >= (2h)

), called Weyl-correspondence. It gives a prescription how Weyl-

. The various Taylor expanded contributions

g and the Christoels

(q). The corresponding measure in the scalar

(q; s). (4.15)

) and K(T). It turns out that

> 0. Of course, since T is xed, the

will be path dependent. To incorporate the constraint let us consider the

denotes a Lebesque-Stieltjes integral to include discrete as well as

) eectively reversing the rst:

dE-integration produces just

+E a small negative imaginary part and applying the residuum

. Therefore we arrive nally at the identity [45]

) into equation (2.10).

; T). But nevertheless, equation (3.17)

in equation (3.19) in problematic because

0 equation (3.24) has the right boundary conditions at the origin. We

0, but not in the right manner. The points

= 0 are essential singularities, where as the correct vanishing is powerlike.

0. These two parts of the Bessel functions express nothing

. After some tedious calculations we obtain the following

| < /4 and , > 0. With analytic continuation

+ t) (t). Since on one hand side

2 sin 2x(1 cos 2x)

has been exactly canceled by means of equation (II.4.35a).

and those going from u

. In the cut complex x-plane

and those from u

[28]. Thus the two contributions

and thus get

we get the path

has not been canceled as in the two-

-integration in equation (5.57) we introduce polar coordinates

|. For D = 2 we recover, of course, equations

), respectively, are given by

). Collecting factors we thus obtain

+2mE/h. This is the result of

(T), which in turn is also separated:

. This path integral is nothing but a Coulomb potential path

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