Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Coherent states: Theory and some applications

Journal Article · · Reviews of Modern Physics; (USA)
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (USA). Institute for Nuclear Theory, Department of Physics, FM-15 Department of Physics Atmospheric Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA (USA). Department of Physics Atmospheric Science
  2. Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA (USA). Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science
In this review, a general algorithm for constructing coherent states of dynamical groups for a given quantum physical system is presented. The result is that, for a given dynamical group, the coherent states are isomorphic to a coset space of group geometrical space. Thus the topological and algebraic structure of the coherent states as well as the associated dynamical system can be extensively discussed. In addition, a quantum-mechanical phase-space representation is constructed via the coherent-state theory. Several useful methods for employing the coherent states to study the physical phenomena of quantum-dynamic systems, such as the path integral, variational principle, classical limit, and thermodynamic limit of quantum mechanics, are described.
OSTI ID:
5839105
Journal Information:
Reviews of Modern Physics; (USA), Journal Name: Reviews of Modern Physics; (USA) Vol. 62:4; ISSN 0034-6861; ISSN RMPHA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English