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Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

Richard Phillips Feynman
- 01 Apr 1948 - 
- Vol. 20, Iss: 2, pp 367-387
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors formulated non-relativistic quantum mechanics in a different way and showed that the probability of an event which can happen in several different ways is the absolute square of a sum of complex contributions, one from each alternative way.
Abstract
Non-relativistic quantum mechanics is formulated here in a different way. It is, however, mathematically equivalent to the familiar formulation. In quantum mechanics the probability of an event which can happen in several different ways is the absolute square of a sum of complex contributions, one from each alternative way. The probability that a particle will be found to have a path x(t) lying somewhere within a region of space time is the square of a sum of contributions, one from each path in the region. The contribution from a single path is postulated to be an exponential whose (imaginary) phase is the classical action (in units of ℏ) for the path in question. The total contribution from all paths reaching x, t from the past is the wave function ψ(x, t). This is shown to satisfy Schroedinger's equation. The relation to matrix and operator algebra is discussed. Applications are indicated, in particular to eliminate the coordinates of the field oscillators from the equations of quantum electrodynamics.

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The degenerate parametric oscillator and Ince's equation

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors construct Green's function for the quantum degenerate parametric oscillator in the coordinate representation in terms of standard solutions of Ince's equation in a framework of a general approach to variable quadratic Hamiltonians.
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Communication: Modular path integral: Quantum dynamics via sequential necklace linking.

TL;DR: It is shown that dynamical properties of extended systems characterized primarily by local potential interactions can be obtained efficiently from fully quantum mechanical path integral calculations through sequential linking of the quantum paths or path integral necklaces corresponding to adjacent groups of atoms, which comprise the "modules."
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Dissipation and decoherence in quantum systems

TL;DR: In this paper, the theory of dissipative quantum systems and its relation to the quantum theory of continuous measurements are reviewed, and a theory based on restricted path integrals is proposed.
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Probabilites in the general boundary formulation

Robert Oeckl
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors give an introductory account of the general boundary formulation of quantum theory and refine its probability interpretation and emphasize a conceptual and historical perspective, giving motivations from quantum gravity and illustrate them with a scenario for describing gravitons in quantum gravity.
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Stabilization of localized states in dissipative tunneling systems interacting with monochromatic fields

TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the dynamics of an initially localized symmetric two-level system coupled to high-temperature dissipative environments and driven by a strong time-periodic force which corresponds to highfrequency monochromatic light.