Classical paths in systems of fermions

David H. Oaknin
Phys. Rev. D 67, 105016 – Published 22 May 2003
PDFExport Citation

Abstract

We implement in systems of fermions the formalism of pseudoclassical paths that we recently developed for systems of bosons and show that quantum states of fermionic fields can be described, in the Heisenberg picture, as linear combinations of randomly distributed paths that do not interfere between themselves and obey classical Dirac equations. Every physical observable is assigned a time-dependent value on each path in a way that respects the anticommutative algebra between quantum operators, and we observe that these values on paths do not necessarily satisfy the usual algebraic relations between classical observables. We use these pseudoclassical paths to define the dynamics of quantum fluctuations in systems of fermions and show that, as we found for systems of bosons, the dynamics of fluctuations of a wide class of observables that we call “collective” observables can be approximately described in terms of classical stochastic concepts. Finally, we apply this formalism to describe the dynamics of local fluctuations of globally conserved fermion numbers.

  • Received 31 January 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.67.105016

©2003 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

David H. Oaknin*

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z1

  • *Email address: doaknin@physics.ubc.ca

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 67, Iss. 10 — 15 May 2003

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×