Correspondence between the classical and quantum canonical transformation groups from an operator formulation of the Wigner function

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Foundations of Physics

OSTI ID:95731

Yeg, Leehwa ^[1]; Kim, Y S ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)

An explicit expression of the {open_quotes}Wigner operator{close_quotes} is derived, such that the Wigner function of a quantum state is equal to the expectation value of this operator with respect to the same state. This Wigner operator leads to a representation-independent procedure for establishing the correspondence between the inhomogeneous symplectic group applicable to linear canonical transformations in classical mechanics and the Weyl-metaplectic group governing the symmetry of unitary transformations in quantum mechanics.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 95731
• Journal Information: Foundations of Physics, Vol. 24, Issue 6; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1994
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
CLASSICAL MECHANICS
CANONICAL TRANSFORMATIONS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
WIGNER THEORY
QUANTUM OPERATORS