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Title: Coherent states, quantum gravity, and the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. I. General considerations

Journal Article · · Journal of Mathematical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4954228· OSTI ID:22596687
;  [1]
  1. Institut für Quantengravitation, Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Physik III, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstraße 7/B2, D-91058 Erlangen (Germany)

This article, as the first of three, aims at establishing the (time-dependent) Born-Oppenheimer approximation, in the sense of space adiabatic perturbation theory, for quantum systems constructed by techniques of the loop quantum gravity framework, especially the canonical formulation of the latter. The analysis presented here fits into a rather general framework and offers a solution to the problem of applying the usual Born-Oppenheimer ansatz for molecular (or structurally analogous) systems to more general quantum systems (e.g., spin-orbit models) by means of space adiabatic perturbation theory. The proposed solution is applied to a simple, finite dimensional model of interacting spin systems, which serves as a non-trivial, minimal model of the aforesaid problem. Furthermore, it is explained how the content of this article and its companion affect the possible extraction of quantum field theory on curved spacetime from loop quantum gravity (including matter fields).

OSTI ID:
22596687
Journal Information:
Journal of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 57, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0022-2488
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English