Schwinger's Quantum Action Principle. I. From Dirac's Formulation through Feynman's Path Integrals to the Schwinger-Keldysh Method

preprint2014arXivOpen access

Abstract

Starting from the earlier notions of stationary action principles, we show how Schwinger's Quantum Action Principle descended from Dirac's formulation, which independently led Feynman to his path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics. The connection between the two is brought out, and applications are discussed. The Keldysh-Schwinger time-cycle method of extracting matrix elements is described. Part II will discuss the variational formulation of quantum electrodynamics and the development of source theory.

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