Paper detail

Geometric Quantum Mechanics

The manifold of pure quantum states is a complex projective space endowed with the unitary-invariant geometry of Fubini and Study. According to the principles of geometric quantum mechanics, the detailed physical characteristics of a given quantum system can be represented by specific geometrical features that are selected and preferentially identified in this complex manifold. Here we construct a number of examples of such geometrical features as they arise in the state spaces for spin-1/2, spin-1, and spin-3/2 systems, and for pairs of spin-1/2 systems. A study is undertaken on the geometry of entangled states, and a natural measure is assigned to the degree of entanglement of a given state for a general multi-particle system. The properties of this measure are analysed for the entangled states of a pair of spin-1/2 particles. With the specification of a quantum Hamiltonian, the resulting Schrodinger trajectory induces a Killing field, which is quasiergodic on a toroidal subspace of the energy surface. When the dynamical trajectory is lifted orthogonally to Hilbert space, it induces a geometric phase shift on the wave function. The uncertainty of an observable in a given state is the length of the gradient vector of the level surface of the expectation of the observable in that state, a fact that allows us to calculate higher order corrections to the Heisenberg relations. A general mixed state is determined by a probability density function on the state space, for which the associated first moment is the density matrix. The advantage of a general state is in its applicability in various attempts to go beyond the standard quantum theory.