On the conection between the Liouville equation and the Schrodinger equation

Recently, Olavo has proposed several derivations of the Schrodinger equation from different sets of hypothesis ("axiomatizations") [Phys. Rev. A 61, 052109 (2000)]. One of them is based on the infinitesimal inverse Weyl transform of a classically evolved phase space density. We show however that the Schrodinger equation can only be obtained in that manner for linear or quadratic potential functions.

When compared to quantum mechanics, classical mechanics is often depicted in a specific metaphysical flavour: spatio-temporal realism or a Newtonian "background" is presented as an intrinsic fundamental classical presumption. However, the Hamiltonian formulation of classical analytical mechanics is based on abstract generalized coordinates and momenta: It is a mathematical rather than a philosophical framework. If the metaphysical assumptions ascribed to classical mechanics a...

First, we show that there exists in classical mechanics three actions corresponding to different boundary conditions: two well-known actions, the Euler-Lagrange classical action S_cl(x,t;x_0), which links the initial position x_0 and its position x at time t, the Hamilton-Jacobi action S(x,t), which links a family of particles of initial action S_0(x) to their various positions x at time t, and a new action, the deterministic action S(x,t;x_0,v_0), which links a particle in i...

Previously, an explicit solution for the time evolution of the Wigner function was presented in terms of auxiliary phase space coordinates which obey simple equations that are analogous with, but not identical to, the classical equations of motion. They can be solved easily and their solutions can be utilized to construct the time evolution of the Wigner function. In this paper, the usefulness of this explicit solution is demonstrated by solving a numerical example in which t...

In this article, it is suggested that a pedagogical point of departure in the teaching of classical mechanics is the Liouville theorem. The theorem is interpreted to define the condition that describe the conservation of information in classical mechanics. The Hamilton equations and the Hamilton principle of least action are derived from the Liouville theorem.

We generalize classical statistical mechanics to describe the kinematics and the dynamics of systems whose variables are constrained by a single quantum postulate (discreteness of the spectrum of values of at least one variable of the theory). This is possible provided we adopt Feynman's suggestion of dropping the assumption that the probability for an event must always be a positive number. This approach has the advantage of allowing a reformulation of quantum theory in phas...

The paper scrutinizes both the similarities and the differences between the classical optics and quantum mechanical theories in phase space, especially between the Wigner distribution functions defined in the respective phase spaces. Classical optics is able to provide an understanding of either the corpuscular or wave aspects of quantum mechanics, reflected in phase space through the classical limit of the quantum Wigner distribution function or the Wigner distribution funct...

We present the path-integral solutions to the distributions in classical (Gibbs) and quantum (Wigner) statistical mechanics. The kernel of the distributions are derived in two ways - one by time slicing and defining the appropriate short-time interval phase space matrix element and second by making use of the kernel in the path-integral approach to quantum mechanics. We show that the two approaches are perturbatively identical. We also present another computation for the Wign...

We use time-independent canonical transformation methods to discuss the energy eigenfunctions for the simple linear potential, pedagogically setting the stage for some field theory calculations to follow. We then discuss the Schr\"odinger wave-functional method of calculating correlation functions for Liouville field theory. We compare this approach to earlier treatments, in particular we check against known weak-coupling results for the Liouville field defined on a cylinder....

In this work we study the Wigner functions, which are the quantum analogues of the classical phase space density, and show how a full rigorous semiclassical scheme for all orders of \hbar can be constructed for them without referring to the actual coordinate space wavefunctions from which the Wigner functions are typically calculated. We find such a picture by a careful analysis around the stationary points of the main quantization equation, and apply this approach to the har...