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Open Quantum Systems Decoherence

Path integrals in a multiply-connected configuration space (50 years after)

arXiv

Authors: Amaury Mouchet

Year

2020

Paper ID

20232

Status

Preprint

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~2 min

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Abstract

The proposal made 50 years ago by Schulman (1968), Laidlaw & Morette-DeWitt (1971) and Dowker (1972) to decompose the propagator according to the homotopy classes of paths was a major breakthrough: it showed how Feynman functional integrals opened a direct window on quantum properties of topological origin in the configuration space. This paper casts a critical look at the arguments brought by this series of papers and its numerous followers in an attempt to clarify the reason why the emergence of the unitary linear representation of the first homotopy group is not only sufficient but also necessary.

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This paper contributes to the Open Quantum Systems & Decoherence research area in the Quantum Articles archive.
It adds a 2020 reference point for readers tracking recent quantum research.
The proposal made 50 years ago by Schulman (1968), Laidlaw & Morette-DeWitt (1971) and Dowker (1972) to decompose the propagator according to the homotopy classes of paths was...

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References & Citation Signals

[1] DOI https://doi.org/arXiv:2010.01504 [2] arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.01504 [3] Publisher https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.01504

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