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Peter Woit
Quantum Theory,
Groups and
Representations
An Introduction
Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations
Peter Woit
Quantum Theory, Groups

and Representations
An Introduction
123
Peter Woit
Department of Mathematics
Columbia University
New York, NY
USA
ISBN 978-3-319-64610-7 ISBN 978-3-319-64612-1 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64612-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949168
Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 81Rxx, 82SXX, 8101
© Peter Woit 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or
part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way,
and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software,
or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in
this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher
nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material
contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains
neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
This book began as course notes prepared for a class taught at Columbia
University during the 2012–13 academic year. The intent was to cover the
basics of quantum mechanics, up to and including relativistic quantum field
theory of free fields, from a point of view emphasizing the role of unitary
representations of Lie groups in the foundations of the subject. It has been
significantly rewritten and extended since that time, partially based upon
experience teaching the same material during 2014–15.
The approach to this material is simultaneously rather advanced, using
crucially some fundamental mathematical structures discussed, if at all, only
in graduate mathematics courses, while at the same time trying to do this in
as elementary terms as possible. The Lie groups needed are (with one crucial
exception) ones that can be described simply in terms of matrices. Much
of the representation theory will also just use standard manipulations of
matrices. The only prerequisite for the course as taught was linear algebra
and multivariable calculus (while a full appreciation of the topics covered
would benefit from quite a bit more than this). My hope is that this level of
presentation will simultaneously be useful to mathematics students trying to
learn something about both quantum mechanics and Lie groups and their
representations, as well as to physics students who already have seen some
quantum mechanics, but would like to know more about the mathematics
underlying the subject, especially that relevant to exploiting symmetry
principles.
The topics covered emphasize the mathematical structure of the subject
and often intentionally avoid overlap with the material of standard physics
courses in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, for which many
excellent textbooks are available. This document is best read in conjunction
with such a text. In particular, some experience with the details of the physics
not covered here is needed to truly appreciate the subject. Some of the main
differences with standard physics presentations include the following:
v
vi Preface
• The role of Lie groups, Lie algebras, and their unitary representations is
systematically emphasized, including not just the standard use of these
to derive consequences for the theory of a “symmetry” generated by
operators commuting with the Hamiltonian.
• Symplectic geometry and the role of the Lie algebra of functions on
phase space in the classical theory of Hamiltonian mechanics are
emphasized. “Quantization” is then the passage to a unitary represen-
tation (unique by the Stone–von Neumann theorem) of a subalgebra of
this Lie algebra.
• The role of the metaplectic representation and the subtleties of the
projective factor involved are described in detail. This includes phe-
nomena depending on the choice of a complex structure, a topic known
to physicists as “Bogoliubov transformations.”
• The closely parallel story of the Clifford algebra and spinor represen-
tation is extensively investigated. These are related to the Heisenberg
Lie algebra and the metaplectic representation by interchanging com-
mutative (“bosonic”) and anticommutative (“fermionic”) generators,
introducing the notion of a “Lie superalgebra” generalizing that of a Lie
algebra.
• Many topics usually first encountered in physics texts in the context of
relativistic quantum field theory are instead first developed in simpler
non-relativistic or finite dimensional contexts. Non-relativistic quan-
tum field theory based on the Schrödinger equation is described in
detail before moving on to the relativistic case. The topic of irreducible
representations of space–time symmetry groups is first addressed with
the case of the Euclidean group, where the implications for the
non-relativistic theory are explained. The analogous problem for the
relativistic case, that of the irreducible representations of the Poincaré
group, is then worked out later on.
• The emphasis is on the Hamiltonian formalism and its
representation-theoretical implications, with the Lagrangian formalism
(the basis of most quantum field theory textbooks) de-emphasized. In
particular, the operators generating symmetry transformations are
derived using the moment map for the action of such transformations
on phase space, not by invoking Noether’s theorem for transformations
that leave invariant a Lagrangian.
• Care is taken to keep track of the distinction between vector spaces and
their duals. It is the dual of phase space (linear coordinates on phase
space) that appears in the Heisenberg Lie algebra, with quantization a
representation of this Lie algebra by linear operators.
Preface vii
• The distinction between real and complex vector spaces, along with the
role of complexification and choice of a complex structure, is system-
atically emphasized. A choice of complex structure plays a crucial part
in quantization using annihilation and creation operator methods,
especially in relativistic quantum field theory, where a different sort of
choice than in the non-relativistic case is responsible for the existence of
antiparticles.
Some differences with other mathematics treatments of this material are as
follows:
• A fully rigorous treatment of the subject is not attempted. At the same
time, an effort is made to indicate where significant issues arise should
one pursue such a treatment, and to provide references to rigorous
discussions of these issues. An attempt is also made to make clear the
difference between where a rigorous treatment could be pursued rela-
tively straightforwardly and where there are serious problems of prin-
ciple making a rigorous treatment hard to achieve.
• The discussion of Lie groups and their representations is focused on
specific examples, not the general theory. For compact Lie groups,
emphasis is on the groups Uð1Þ; SOð3Þ; SUð2Þ and their finite dimen-
sional representations. Central to the basic structure of quantum
mechanics are the Heisenberg group, the symplectic groups Spð2n; R)
and the metaplectic representation, as well as the spinor groups and the
spin representation. The geometry of space–time leads to the study of
Euclidean groups in two and three dimensions, and the Lorentz (SO
(3,1)) and Poincaré groups, together with their representations. These
examples of non-compact Lie groups are a fundamental feature of
quantum mechanics, but not a conventional topic in the mathematics
curriculum.
• A central example studied thoroughly and in some generality is that
of the metaplectic representation of the double cover of Spð2n; R) (in
the commutative case), or spin representation of the double cover of
SOð2n; R) (anticommutative case). This specific example of a repre-
sentation provides the foundation of quantum theory, with quantum
field theory involving a generalization to the case of n infinite.
• No attempt is made to pursue a general notion of quantization, despite
the great mathematical interest of such generalizations. In particular,
attention is restricted to the case of linear symplectic manifolds. The
linear structure plays a crucial role, with quantization given by a rep-
resentation of a Heisenberg algebra in the commutative case and a
Clifford algebra in the anticommutative case. The very explicit methods
used (staying close to the physics formalism) mostly do not apply to
viii Preface
more general conceptions of quantization (e.g., geometric quantization)

of mathematical interest for their applications in representation theory.
The scope of material covered in later sections of the book is governed by a
desire to give some explanation of what the central mathematical objects are
that occur in the Standard Model of particle physics, while staying within the
bounds of a one-year course. The Standard Model embodies our best current
understanding of the fundamental nature of reality, making a better under-
standing of its mathematical nature a central problem for anyone who
believes that mathematics and physics are intimately connected at their
deepest levels. The author hopes that the treatment of this subject here will
be helpful to anyone interested in pursuing a better understanding of this
connection.
0.1 Acknowledgements
The students of Mathematics W4391-2 at Columbia during 2012–13 and
2014–15 deserve much of the credit for the existence of this book and for
whatever virtues it might have. Their patience with and the interest they
took in what I was trying to do were a great encouragement, and the many
questions they asked were often very helpful. The reader should be aware that
the book they have in their hands, whatever its faults, is a huge improvement
over what these students had to put up with.
The quality of the manuscript was dramatically improved over that of
early versions through the extreme diligence of Michel Talagrand, who early
on took an interest in what I was doing, and over a long period of time
carefully read over many versions. His combination of encouragement and
extensive detailed criticism was invaluable. He will at some point be pub-
lishing his own take on many of the same topics covered here ([91]), which I
can’t recommend enough.
At some point I started keeping a list of those who provided specific
suggestions, it includes Kimberly Clinch, Art Brown, Jason Ezra Williams,
Mateusz Wasilewski, Gordon Watson, Cecilia Jarlskog, Alex Purins, James
Van Meter, Thomas Tallant, Todor Popov, Stephane T’Jampens, Cris
Moore, Noah Miller, Ben Israeli, Nigel Green, Charles Waldman, Peter
Grieve, Kevin McCann, Chris Weed, Fernando Chamizo, and various
anonymous commenters on my blog. My apologies to others who I’m sure
that I’ve forgotten.
The illustrations were done in TikZ by Ben Dribus, who was a great
pleasure to work with.
Much early enthusiasm and encouragement for this project was provided
by Eugene Ha at Springer. Marc Strauss and Loretta Bartolini have been the
ones there who have helped to finally bring this to a conclusion.
Preface ix
Thanks also to all my colleagues in the mathematics department at

Columbia, who have over the years provided a very supportive environment
for me to work in and learn more every day about mathematics.
Finally, I’m grateful for the daily encouragement and unfailing support
over the years from my partner Pamela Cruz that has been invaluable for
surviving getting to the end of this project and will make possible whatever
the next one might be.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
0.1 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
1 Introduction and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Basic principles of quantum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Fundamental axioms of quantum mechanics . . . . . 3
1.2.2 Principles of measurement theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Unitary group representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.1 Lie groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.2 Group representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.3 Unitary group representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Representations and quantum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.5 Groups and symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 The Group Uð1Þ and its Representations . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Some representation theory . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 The group Uð1Þ and its representations . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3 The charge operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Conservation of charge and Uð1Þ symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.6 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 26
3 Two-state Systems and SUð2Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
3.1 The two-state quantum system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
3.1.1 The Pauli matrices: observables of the two-state
quantum system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
3.1.2 Exponentials of Pauli matrices: unitary
transformations of the two-state system . . . . . . .. 30
xi
xii Contents
3.2 Commutation relations for Pauli matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3.3 Dynamics of a two-state system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4 Linear Algebra Review, Unitary and Orthogonal Groups . . . . . . 39
4.1 Vector spaces and linear maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2 Dual vector spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.3 Change of basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.4 Inner products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.5 Adjoint operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.6 Orthogonal and unitary transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.6.1 Orthogonal groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.6.2 Unitary groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.7 Eigenvalues and eigenvectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5 Lie Algebras and Lie Algebra Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.1 Lie algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2 Lie algebras of the orthogonal and unitary groups . . . . . . . 59
5.2.1 Lie algebra of the orthogonal group . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.2.2 Lie algebra of the unitary group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.3 A summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.4 Lie algebra representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.5 Complexification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6 The Rotation and Spin Groups in Three and Four
Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 73
6.1 The rotation group in three dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 73
6.2 Spin groups in three and four dimensions . . . . . . . . . .. . . 76
6.2.1 Quaternions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 77
6.2.2 Rotations and spin groups in four dimensions .. . . 78
6.2.3 Rotations and spin groups in three dimensions . . . 79
6.2.4 The spin group and SUð2Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 83
6.3 A summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 85
6.4 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 86
7 Rotations and the Spin 12 Particle in a Magnetic Field . . . . . . . . 87
7.1 The spinor representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.2 The spin 12 particle in a magnetic field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7.3 The Heisenberg picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.4 Complex projective space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7.5 The Bloch sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Contents xiii
8 Representations of SUð2Þ and SOð3Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8.1 Representations of SUð2Þ: classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
8.1.1 Weight decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
8.1.2 Lie algebra representations: raising
and lowering operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . 106
8.2 Representations of SUð2Þ: construction . . . . . . . . ... . . . . 112
8.3 Representations of SOð3Þ and spherical harmonics .. . . . . 115
8.4 The Casimir operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . 122
8.5 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . 124
9 Tensor Products, Entanglement, and Addition of Spin . . . . . . . . 125
9.1 Tensor products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
9.2 Composite quantum systems and tensor products . . . . . . . 128
9.3 Indecomposable vectors and entanglement . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9.4 Tensor products of representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
9.4.1 Tensor products of SUð2Þ representations . . . . . . . 131
9.4.2 Characters of representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
9.4.3 Some examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
9.5 Bilinear forms and tensor products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.6 Symmetric and antisymmetric multilinear forms . . . . . . . . 136
10 Momentum and the Free Particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
10.1 The group R and its representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
10.2 Translations in time and space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
10.2.1 Energy and the group R of time translations . . . . . 142
10.2.2 Momentum and the group R3 of space
translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
10.3 The energy–momentum relation and the Schrödinger
equation for a free particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
11 Fourier Analysis and the Free Particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.1 Periodic boundary conditions and the group Uð1Þ . . . . . . . 150
11.2 The group R and the Fourier transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
11.3 Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
11.4 Linear transformations and distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.5 Solutions of the Schrödinger equation in momentum
space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
12 Position and the Free Particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
12.1 The position operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
12.2 Momentum space representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
12.3 Dirac notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
xiv Contents
12.4 Heisenberg uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

12.5 The propagator in position space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
12.6 Propagators in frequency–momentum space . . . . . . . . . . . 174
12.7 Green’s functions and solutions to the Schrödinger
equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
13 The Heisenberg group and the Schrödinger Representation . . . . 181
13.1 The Heisenberg Lie algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
13.2 The Heisenberg group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
13.3 The Schrödinger representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
14 The Poisson Bracket and Symplectic Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
14.1 Classical mechanics and the Poisson bracket . . . . . . . . . . . 190
14.2 The Poisson bracket and the Heisenberg Lie algebra . . . . . 192
14.3 Symplectic geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
15 Hamiltonian Vector Fields and the Moment Map . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
15.1 Vector fields and the exponential map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
15.2 Hamiltonian vector fields and canonical
transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
15.3 Group actions on M and the moment map . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
15.4 Examples of Hamiltonian group actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
15.5 The dual of a Lie algebra and symplectic geometry . . . . . . 211
16 Quadratic Polynomials and the Symplectic Group . . . . . . . . . . . 215
16.1 The symplectic group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
16.1.1 The symplectic group for d ¼ 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
16.1.2 The symplectic group for arbitrary d . . . . . . . . . . . 220
16.2 The symplectic group and automorphisms of the
Heisenberg group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
16.2.1 The adjoint representation and inner
automorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
16.2.2 The symplectic group as automorphism group . . . . 224
16.3 The case of arbitrary d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
17 Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . 229
17.1 Canonical quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . 229
17.2 The Groenewold–van Hove no-go theorem .. . . . . . . . . . . 232
17.3 Canonical quantization in d dimensions . . ... . . . . . . . . . . 234
17.4 Quantization and symmetries . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . 234
17.5 More general notions of quantization . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . 235
17.6 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . 236
Contents xv
18 Semi-direct Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

18.1 An example: the Euclidean group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
18.2 Semi-direct product groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
18.3 Semi-direct product Lie algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
19 The Quantum Free Particle as a Representation
of the Euclidean Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
19.1 The quantum free particle and representations of Eð2Þ . . . 246
19.2 The case of Eð3Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
19.3 Other representations of Eð3Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
20 Representations of Semi-direct Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
20.1 Intertwining operators and the metaplectic
representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
20.2 Constructing intertwining operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
20.3 Explicit calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
20.3.1 The SOð2Þ action by rotations of the plane
for d ¼ 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
20.3.2 An SOð2Þ action on the d ¼ 1 phase space . . . . . . . 266
20.3.3 The Fourier transform as an intertwining
operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
20.3.4 An R action on the d ¼ 1 phase space . . . . . . . . . . 268
20.4 Representations of NoK, N commutative . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
21 Central Potentials and the Hydrogen Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
21.1 Quantum particle in a central potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
21.2 so(4) symmetry and the Coulomb potential . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
21.3 The hydrogen atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
22 The Harmonic Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
22.1 The harmonic oscillator with one degree of freedom . . . . . . 288
22.2 Creation and annihilation operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
22.3 The Bargmann–Fock representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
22.4 Quantization by annihilation and creation operators . . . . . 297
xvi Contents
23 Coherent States and the Propagator for the Harmonic

Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 299
23.1 Coherent states and the Heisenberg group action . . ... . . 299
23.2 Coherent states and the Bargmann–Fock state space .. . . 302
23.3 The Heisenberg group action on operators . . . . . . . . ... . . 305
23.4 The harmonic oscillator propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 305
23.4.1 The propagator in the Bargmann–Fock
representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
23.4.2 The coherent state propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
23.4.3 The position space propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
23.5 The Bargmann transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
24 The Metaplectic Representation and Annihilation and Creation
Operators, d ¼ 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
24.1 The metaplectic representation for d ¼ 1 in terms
of a and ay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
24.2 Intertwining operators in terms of a and ay . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
24.3 Implications of the choice of z; z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
24.4 SUð1; 1Þ and Bogoliubov transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
25 The Metaplectic Representation and Annihilation and Creation
Operators, arbitrary d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
25.1 Multiple degrees of freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
25.2 Complex coordinates on phase space
and UðdÞ Spð2d; R) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
25.3 The metaplectic representation and UðdÞ Spð2d; R) . . . . . 331
25.4 Examples in d ¼ 2 and 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
25.4.1 Two degrees of freedom and SUð2Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
25.4.2 Three degrees of freedom and SOð3Þ . . . . . . . . . . . 336
25.5 Normal ordering and the anomaly in finite dimensions . . . 338
26 Complex Structures and Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
26.1 Complex structures and phase space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
26.2 Compatible complex structures and positivity . . . . . . . . . . 344
26.3 Complex structures and quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
26.4 Complex vector spaces with Hermitian inner product
as phase spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
26.5 Complex structures for d ¼ 1 and squeezed states . . . . . . . 353
26.6 Complex structures and Bargmann–Fock quantization
for arbitrary d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Contents xvii
27 The Fermionic Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

27.1 Canonical anticommutation relations and the fermionic
oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
27.2 Multiple degrees of freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
28 Weyl and Clifford Algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
28.1 The Complex Weyl and Clifford algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
28.1.1 One degree of freedom, bosonic case . . . . . . . . . . . 365
28.1.2 One degree of freedom, fermionic case . . . . . . . . . . 367
28.1.3 Multiple degrees of freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
28.2 Real Clifford algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
29 Clifford Algebras and Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
29.1 Non-degenerate bilinear forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
29.2 Clifford algebras and geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
29.2.1 Rotations as iterated orthogonal reflections . . . . . . 377
29.2.2 The Lie algebra of the rotation group and
quadratic elements of the Clifford algebra . . . . . . . 379
30 Anticommuting Variables and Pseudo-classical Mechanics . . . . . 383
30.1 The Grassmann algebra of polynomials on
anticommuting generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
30.2 Pseudo-classical mechanics and the fermionic Poisson
bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
30.3 Examples of pseudo-classical mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
30.3.1 The pseudo-classical spin degree of freedom . . . . . . 390
30.3.2 The pseudo-classical fermionic oscillator . . . . . . . . 391
31 Fermionic Quantization and Spinors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
31.1 Quantization of pseudo-classical systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
31.1.1 Quantization of the pseudo-classical spin . . . . . . . . 399
31.2 The Schrödinger representation for fermions: ghosts . . . . . 400
31.3 Spinors and the Bargmann–Fock construction . . . . . . . . . . 402
31.4 Complex structures, UðdÞ SOð2dÞ and the spinor
representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
31.5 An example: spinors for SOð4Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
xviii Contents
32 A Summary: Parallels Between Bosonic and Fermionic

Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
33 Supersymmetry, Some Simple Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
33.1 The supersymmetric oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
33.2 Supersymmetric quantum mechanics with a
superpotential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
33.3 Supersymmetric quantum mechanics and differential
forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
34 The Pauli Equation and the Dirac Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
34.1 The Pauli-Schrödinger equation and free spin 12
particles in d ¼ 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
34.2 Solutions of the Pauli equation and representations
g ....................................
of Eð3Þ . . . 424
g
34.3 The Eð3Þ-invariant inner product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
34.4 The Dirac operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
35 Lagrangian Methods and the Path Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
35.1 Lagrangian mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
35.2 Noether’s theorem and symmetries in the Lagrangian
formalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
35.3 Quantization and path integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
35.4 Advantages and disadvantages of the path integral . . . . . . 444
36 Multiparticle Systems: Momentum Space Description . . . . . . . . 447
36.1 Multiparticle quantum systems as quanta
of a harmonic oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
36.1.1 Bosons and the quantum harmonic oscillator . . . . . 448
36.1.2 Fermions and the fermionic oscillator . . . . . . . . . . 450
36.2 Multiparticle quantum systems of free particles: finite
cutoff formalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
36.3 Continuum formalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
36.4 Multiparticle wavefunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
36.5 Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
37 Multiparticle Systems and Field Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
37.1 Quantum field operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
37.2 Quadratic operators and dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
37.3 The propagator in non-relativistic quantum
field theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Contents xix
37.4 Interacting quantum fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

37.5 Fermion fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
38 Symmetries and Non-relativistic Quantum Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
38.1 Unitary transformations on H1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
38.2 Internal symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
38.2.1 Uð1Þ symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
38.2.2 UðnÞ symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
38.3 Spatial symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
38.3.1 Spatial translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
38.3.2 Spatial rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
38.3.3 Spin 12 fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
38.4 Fermionic fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
39 Quantization of Infinite dimensional Phase Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . 493
39.1 Inequivalent irreducible representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
39.2 The restricted symplectic group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
39.3 The anomaly and the Schwinger term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
39.4 Spontaneous symmetry breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
39.5 Higher-order operators and renormalization . . . . . . . . . . . 500
40 Minkowski Space and the Lorentz Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
40.1 Minkowski space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
40.2 The Lorentz group and its Lie algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
40.3 The Fourier transform in Minkowski space . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
40.4 Spin and the Lorentz group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
41 Representations of the Lorentz Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
41.1 Representations of the Lorentz group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
41.2 Dirac °-matrices and Cliffð3; 1Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
42 The Poincaré Group and its Representations . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 527
42.1 The Poincaré group and its Lie algebra . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 528
42.2 Irreducible representations of the Poincaré group .. . . . . . 530
42.3 Classification of representations by orbits . . . . . ... . . . . . 534
42.3.1 Positive energy time-like orbits . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 535
42.3.2 Negative energy time-like orbits . . . . . . ... . . . . . 536
42.3.3 Space-like orbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 537
42.3.4 The zero orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 537
42.3.5 Positive energy null orbits . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 537
42.3.6 Negative energy null orbits . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 539
42.4 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 539
xx Contents
43 The Klein–Gordon Equation and Scalar Quantum Fields . . . . . . 541

43.1 The Klein–Gordon equation and its solutions . . . . . . . . . . 541
43.2 The symplectic and complex structures on M . . . . . . . . . . 547
43.3 Hamiltonian and dynamics of the Klein–Gordon
theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
43.4 Quantization of the Klein–Gordon theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
43.5 The scalar field propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
43.6 Interacting scalar field theories: some comments . . . . . . . . 558
44 Symmetries and Relativistic Scalar Quantum Fields . . .... . . . . 561
44.1 Internal symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 562
44.1.1 SOðmÞ symmetry and real scalar fields . .... . . . . 562
44.1.2 Uð1Þ symmetry and complex scalar fields ... . . . . 565
44.2 Poincaré symmetry and scalar fields . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 568
44.2.1 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 570
44.2.2 Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 571
44.2.3 Boosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 571
44.3 For further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 572
45 Uð1Þ Gauge Symmetry and Electromagnetic Fields . . . . . . . . . . . 573
45.1 Uð1Þ gauge symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
45.2 Curvature, electric and magnetic fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
45.3 Field equations with background electromagnetic
fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
45.4 The geometric significance of the connection . . . . . . . . . . . 579
45.5 The non-Abelian case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
46 Quantization of the Electromagnetic Field: the Photon . . . . . . . . 585
46.1 Maxwell’s equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
46.2 The Hamiltonian formalism for electromagnetic fields . . . . 587
46.3 Gauss’s law and time-independent gauge
transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
46.4 Quantization in Coulomb gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
46.5 Space–time symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
46.5.1 Time translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
46.5.2 Spatial translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
46.5.3 Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
46.6 Covariant gauge quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
Contents xxi
47 The Dirac Equation and Spin 12 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

47.1 The Dirac equation in Minkowski space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
47.2 Majorana spinors and the Majorana field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
47.2.1 Majorana spinor fields in momentum space . . . . . . 611
47.2.2 Quantization of the Majorana field . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
47.3 Weyl spinors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
47.4 Dirac spinors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
48 An Introduction to the Standard Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
48.1 Non-Abelian gauge fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
48.2 Fundamental fermions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
48.3 Spontaneous symmetry breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
48.4 Unanswered questions and speculative extensions . . . . . . . 623
48.4.1 Why these gauge groups and couplings? . . . . . . . . 624
48.4.2 Why these representations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
48.4.3 Why three generations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
48.4.4 Why the Higgs field? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
48.4.5 Why the Yukawas? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
48.4.6 What is the dynamics of the gravitational
field? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
49 Further Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
49.1 Connecting quantum theories to experimental results . . . . . 628
49.2 Other important mathematical physics topics . . . . . . . . . . . 628
A Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
A.1 Bilinear forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
A.2 Fourier transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
A.3 Symplectic geometry and quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
A.4 Complex structures and Bargmann-Fock quantization . . . . . 634
A.5 Special relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
A.6 Clifford algebras and spinors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
B Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
B.1 Chapters 1 and 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
B.2 Chapters 3 and 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
B.3 Chapters 5 to 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
B.4 Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
B.5 Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
B.6 Chapters 10 to 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
B.7 Chapters 14 to 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
B.8 Chapter 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
B.9 Chapters 18 and 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
B.10 Chapters 21 and 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
B.11 Chapter 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
xxii Contents
B.12 Chapters 24 to 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

B.13 Chapters 27 and 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
B.14 Chapters 29 to 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
B.15 Chapters 33 and 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
B.16 Chapter 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
B.17 Chapters 37 and 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
B.18 Chapters 40 to 42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
B.19 Chapters 43 and 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
B.20 Chapters 45 and 46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
B.21 Chapter 47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Chapter 1
Introduction and Overview
1.1 Introduction
A famous quote from Richard Feynman goes “I think it is safe to say that
no one understands quantum mechanics.” [22]. In this book, we will pursue
one possible route to such an understanding, emphasizing the deep connec-
tions of quantum mechanics to fundamental ideas of modern mathematics.
The strangeness inherent in quantum theory that Feynman was referring
to has two rather different sources. One of them is the striking disjunction
and incommensurability between the conceptual framework of the classical
physics which governs our everyday experience of the physical world, and the
very different framework which governs physical reality at the atomic scale.
Familiarity with the powerful formalisms of classical mechanics and electro-
magnetism provides deep understanding of the world at the distance scales
familiar to us. Supplementing these with the more modern (but still “classi-
cal” in the sense of “not quantum”) subjects of special and general relativity
extends our understanding into other much less familiar regimes, while still
leaving atomic physics a mystery.
Read in context though, Feynman was pointing to a second source of dif-
ficulty, contrasting the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics with
that of the theory of general relativity, a supposedly equally hard to under-
stand subject. General relativity can be a difficult subject to master, but its
mathematical and conceptual structure involves a fairly straightforward ex-
tension of structures that characterize nineteenth-century physics. The fun-
damental physical laws (Einstein’s equations for general relativity) are ex-
pressed as partial differential equations, a familiar if difficult mathematical
subject. The state of a system is determined by a set of fields satisfying these
equations, and observable quantities are functionals of these fields. The math-
ematics is largely that of the usual calculus: differential equations and their
real-valued solutions.

c Peter Woit 2017 1
P. Woit, Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64612-1 1
2 1 Introduction and Overview
In quantum mechanics, the state of a system is best thought of as a dif-

ferent sort of mathematical object: a vector in a complex vector space with
a Hermitian inner product, the so-called “state space”. Such a state space
will sometimes be a space of functions known as wavefunctions. While these
may, like classical fields, satisfy a differential equation, one non-classical fea-
ture is that wavefunctions are complex-valued. What’s completely different
about quantum mechanics is the treatment of observable quantities, which
correspond to self-adjoint linear operators on the state space. When such op-
erators do not commute, our intuitions about how physics should work are
violated, as we can no longer simultaneously assign numerical values to the
observables.
During the earliest days of quantum mechanics, the mathematician
Hermann Weyl quickly recognized that the mathematical structures being
used were ones he was quite familiar with from his work in the field of rep-
resentation theory. From the point of view that takes representation theory
as a central theme in mathematics, the framework of quantum mechanics
looks perfectly natural. Weyl soon wrote a book expounding such ideas [100],
but this got a mixed reaction from physicists unhappy with the penetration
of unfamiliar mathematical structures into their subject (with some of them
characterizing the situation as the “Gruppenpest,” the group theory plague).
One goal of this book will be to try and make some of this mathematics as
accessible as possible, boiling down part of Weyl’s exposition to its essen-
tials while updating it in light of many decades of progress toward better
understanding of the subject.
Weyl’s insight that quantization of a classical system crucially involves
understanding the Lie groups that act on the classical phase space and the
unitary representations of these groups has been vindicated by later devel-
opments which dramatically expanded the scope of these ideas. The use of
representation theory to exploit the symmetries of a problem has become a
powerful tool that has found uses in many areas of science, not just quantum
mechanics. I hope that readers whose main interest is physics will learn to
appreciate some of such mathematical structures that lie behind the calcu-
lations of standard textbooks, helping them understand how to effectively
exploit them in other contexts. Those whose main interest is mathematics
will hopefully gain some understanding of fundamental physics, at the same
time as seeing some crucial examples of groups and representations. These
should provide a good grounding for appreciating more abstract presenta-
tions of the subject that are part of the standard mathematical curriculum.
Anyone curious about the relation of fundamental physics to mathematics
and what Eugene Wigner described as “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of
Mathematics in the Natural Sciences” [101] should benefit from an exposure
to this remarkable story at the intersection of the two subjects.
The following sections give an overview of the fundamental ideas behind
much of the material to follow. In this sketchy and abstract form, they will
1.1 Introduction 3
likely seem rather mystifying to those meeting them for the first time. As we
work through basic examples in the coming chapters, a better understanding
of the overall picture described here should start to emerge.
1.2 Basic principles of quantum mechanics

We will divide the conventional list of basic principles of quantum mechan-
ics into two parts, with the first covering the fundamental mathematics
structures.
1.2.1 Fundamental axioms of quantum mechanics
In classical physics, the state of a system is given by a point in a “phase

space,” which can be thought of equivalently as the space of solutions of an
equation of motion, or as (parametrizing solutions by initial value data) the
space of coordinates and momenta. Observable quantities are just functions
on this space (e.g., functions of the coordinates and momenta). There is one
distinguished observable, the energy or Hamiltonian, and it determines how
states evolve in time through Hamilton’s equations.
The basic structure of quantum mechanics is quite different, with the for-
malism built on the following simple axioms:
Axiom (States). The state of a quantum mechanical system is given by a

nonzero vector in a complex vector space H with Hermitian inner product
·, ·.
We will review in chapter 4 some linear algebra, including the properties of

inner products on complex vector spaces. H may be finite or infinite dimen-
sional, with further restrictions required in the infinite dimensional case (e.g.,
we may want to require H to be a Hilbert space). Note two very important
differences with classical mechanical states:
• The state space is always linear: A linear combination of states is also a

state.
• The state space is a complex vector space: these linear combinations can
and do crucially involve complex numbers, in an inescapable way. In the
classical case, only real numbers appear, with complex numbers used
only as an inessential calculational tool.
We will sometimes use the notation introduced by Dirac for vectors in the
state space H: Such a vector with a label ψ is denoted
|ψ
Axiom (Observables). The observables of a quantum mechanical system are

given by self-adjoint linear operators on H.
We will review the definition of self-adjointness for H finite dimensional
in chapter 4. For H infinite dimensional, the definition becomes much more
subtle, and we will not enter into the analysis needed.
Axiom (Dynamics). There is a distinguished observable, the Hamiltonian

H. Time evolution of states |ψ(t) ∈ H is given by the Schrödinger equation
d
i |ψ(t) = H|ψ(t) (1.1)
dt
The operator H has eigenvalues that are bounded below.
The Hamiltonian observable H will have a physical interpretation in terms

of energy, with the boundedness condition necessary in order to assure the
existence of a stable lowest energy state.
is a dimensional constant, called Planck’s constant, the value of which
depends on what units one uses for time and for energy. It has the dimensions
[energy] · [time], and its experimental values are
1.054571726(47) × 10−34 Joule · seconds = 6.58211928(15) × 10−16 eV · seconds
(eV is the unit of “electron-Volt,” the energy acquired by an electron moving

through a one-Volt electric potential). The most natural units to use for
quantum mechanical problems would be energy and time units chosen so that
= 1. For instance, one could use seconds for time and measure energies in
the very small units of 6.6×10−16 eV, or use eV for energies, and then the very
small units of 6.6 × 10−16 seconds for time. Schrödinger’s equation implies
that if one is looking at a system where the typical energy scale is an eV,
one’s state vector will be changing on the very short time scale of 6.6 × 10−16
seconds. When we do computations, usually we will set = 1, implicitly
going to a unit system natural for quantum mechanics. After calculating a
final result, appropriate factors of can be inserted to get answers in more
conventional unit systems.
It is sometimes convenient, however, to carry along factors of , since this
can help make clear which terms correspond to classical physics behavior,
and which ones are purely quantum mechanical in nature. Typically, classical
physics comes about in the limit where
(energy scale)(time scale)

1.2 Basic principles of quantum mechanics 5
is large. This is true for the energy and time scales encountered in everyday
life, but it can also always be achieved by taking → 0, and this is what will
often be referred to as the “classical limit.” One should keep in mind though
that the manner in which classical behavior emerges out of quantum theory
in such a limit can be a very complicated phenomenon.
1.2.2 Principles of measurement theory
The above axioms characterize the mathematical structure of a quantum

theory, but they do not address the “measurement problem.” This is the
question of how to apply this structure to a physical system interacting with
some sort of macroscopic, human-scale experimental apparatus that “mea-
sures” what is going on. This is a highly thorny issue, requiring in principle
the study of two interacting quantum systems (the one being measured and
the measurement apparatus) in an overall state that is not just the product
of the two states, but is highly “entangled” (for the meaning of this term, see
chapter 9). Since a macroscopic apparatus will involve something like 1023
degrees of freedom, this question is extremely hard to analyze purely within
the quantum mechanical framework (requiring for instance the solution of a
Schrödinger equation in 1023 variables).
Instead of trying to resolve in general this problem of how macroscopic
classical physics behavior emerges in a measurement process, one can adopt
the following two principles as providing a phenomenological description of
what will happen, and these allow one to make precise statistical predictions
using quantum theory:
Principle (Observables). States for which the value of an observable can be

characterized by a well-defined number are the states that are eigenvectors for
the corresponding self-adjoint operator. The value of the observable in such a
state will be a real number, the eigenvalue of the operator.
This principle identifies the states we have some hope of sensibly associ-
ating a label to (the eigenvalue), a label which in some contexts corresponds
to an observable quantity characterizing states in classical mechanics. The
observables with important physical significance (for instance, the energy,
momentum, angular momentum, or charge) will turn out to correspond to
some group action on the physical system.
Principle (The Born rule). Given an observable O and two unit-norm states
|ψ1 and |ψ2 that are eigenvectors of O with distinct eigenvalues λ1 and λ2
O|ψ1 = λ1 |ψ1 , O|ψ2 = λ2 |ψ2

the complex linear combination state
c1 |ψ1 + c2 |ψ2
will not have a well-defined value for the observable O. If one attempts to
measure this observable, one will get either λ1 or λ2 , with probabilities
|c21 |
|c21 |+ |c22 |
and
|c22 |
|c21 | + |c22 |
respectively.
The Born rule is sometimes raised to the level of an axiom of the theory, but
it is plausible to expect that, given a full understanding of how measurements
work, it can be derived from the more fundamental axioms of the previous
section. Such an understanding though of how classical behavior emerges in
experiments is a very challenging topic, with the notion of “decoherence”
playing an important role. See the end of this chapter for some references
that discuss these issues in detail.
Note that the state c|ψ will have the same eigenvalues and probabilities
as the state |ψ, for any complex number c. It is conventional to work with
states of norm fixed to the value 1, which fixes the amplitude of c, leaving
a remaining ambiguity which is a phase eiθ . By the above principles, this
phase will not contribute to the calculated probabilities of measurements.
We will, however, not take the point of view that this phase information can
just be ignored. It plays an important role in the mathematical structure, and
the relative phase of two different states certainly does affect measurement
probabilities.
1.3 Unitary group representations

The mathematical framework of quantum mechanics is closely related to what
mathematicians describe as the theory of “unitary group representations.”
We will be examining this notion in great detail and working through many
examples in the coming chapters, but here is a quick summary of the general
theory.
1.3 Unitary group representations 7
1.3.1 Lie groups
A fundamental notion that appears throughout different fields of mathematics

is that of a group:
Definition (Group). A group G is a set with an associative multiplication,

such that the set contains an identity element, as well as the multiplicative
inverse of each element.
If the set has a finite number of elements, this is called a “finite group.”
The theory of these and their use in quantum mechanics is a well-developed
subject, but one we mostly will bypass in favor of the study of “Lie groups,”
which have an infinite number of elements. The elements of a Lie group make
up a geometrical space of some dimension, and choosing local coordinates on
the space, the group operations are given by differentiable functions. Most of
the Lie groups we will consider are “matrix groups,” meaning subgroups of
the group of n by n invertible matrices (with real or complex matrix entries).
The group multiplication in this case is matrix multiplication. An example
we will consider in great detail is the group of all rotations about a point
in three-dimensional space, in which case such rotations can be identified
with 3 by 3 matrices, with composition of rotations corresponding to the
multiplication of matrices.
Digression. A standard definition of a Lie group is as a smooth manifold,

with group laws given by smooth (infinitely differentiable) maps. More gener-
ally, one might consider topological manifolds and continuous maps, but this
gives nothing new (by the solution to Hilbert’s Fifth problem). Most of the
finite dimensional Lie groups of interest are matrix Lie groups, which can be
defined as closed subgroups of the group of invertible matrices of some fixed
dimension. One particular group of importance in quantum mechanics (the
metaplectic group, see chapter 20) is not a matrix group, so the more general
definition is needed to include this case.
1.3.2 Group representations
Groups often occur as “transformation groups,” meaning groups of elements

acting as transformations of some particular geometric object. In the example
mentioned above of the group of three-dimensional rotations, such rotations
are linear transformations of R3 . In general:
Definition (Group action on a set). An action of a group G on a set M is

given by a map
(g, x) ∈ G × M → g · x ∈ M
that takes a pair (g, x) of a group element g ∈ G and an element x ∈ M to

another element g · x ∈ M such that
g1 · (g2 · x) = (g1 g2 ) · x (1.2)
and
e·x=x
where e is the identity element of G

A good example to keep in mind is that of three-dimensional space M =
R3 with the standard inner product. This comes with two different group
actions preserving the inner product
• An action of the group G1 = R3 on R3 by translations.
• An action of the group G2 = O(3) of three-dimensional orthogonal trans-
formations of R3 . These are the rotations about the origin (possibly
combined with a reflection). Note that in this case order matters: For
non-commutative groups like O(3), one has g1 g2 = g2 g1 for some group
elements g1 , g2 .
A fundamental principle of modern mathematics is that the way to un-
derstand a space M , given as some set of points, is to look at F (M ), the
set of functions on this space. This “linearizes” the problem, since the func-
tion space is a vector space, no matter what the geometrical structure of
the original set is. If the set has a finite number of elements, the function
space will be a finite dimensional vector space. In general, though, it will be
infinite dimensional and one will need to further specify the space of func-
tions (e.g., continuous functions, differentiable functions, functions with finite
norm) under consideration.
Given a group action of G on M , functions on M come with an action of
G by linear transformations, given by
(g · f )(x) = f (g −1 · x) (1.3)
where f is some function on M .

The order in which elements of the group act may matter, so the inverse
is needed to get the group action property 1.2, since
g1 · (g2 · f )(x) = g2 · f (g1−1 · x)

= f (g2−1 · (g1−1 · x))
= f ((g2−1 g1−1 ) · x)
= f ((g1 g2 )−1 · x)
= (g1 g2 ) · f (x)
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Quantum Theory Groups and Representations An

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Elliptic Quantum Groups Representations and Related

Theory of Groups and Symmetries: Representations of Groups

Complex Semisimple Quantum Groups and Representation

Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural

An Introduction To Quantum Field Theory First Edition

History An Introduction to Theory Method and Practice

Introduction to the Theory of Lie Groups 1st Edition Roger

An Introduction to quantum optics and quantum fluctuations

Quantum Theory, Groups

ISBN 978-3-319-64610-7 ISBN 978-3-319-64612-1 (eBook)

Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 81Rxx, 82SXX, 8101

© Peter Woit 2017

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

more general conceptions of quantization (e.g., geometric quantization)

Thanks also to all my colleagues in the mathematics department at

3.2 Commutation relations for Pauli matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

8 Representations of SUð2Þ and SOð3Þ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

12.4 Heisenberg uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

18 Semi-direct Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

23 Coherent States and the Propagator for the Harmonic

27 The Fermionic Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

32 A Summary: Parallels Between Bosonic and Fermionic

37.4 Interacting quantum fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

43 The Klein–Gordon Equation and Scalar Quantum Fields . . . . . . 541

47 The Dirac Equation and Spin 12 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

B.12 Chapters 24 to 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

In quantum mechanics, the state of a system is best thought of as a dif-

1.2 Basic principles of quantum mechanics

1.2.1 Fundamental axioms of quantum mechanics

In classical physics, the state of a system is given by a point in a “phase

Axiom (States). The state of a quantum mechanical system is given by a

We will review in chapter 4 some linear algebra, including the properties of

• The state space is always linear: A linear combination of states is also a

Axiom (Observables). The observables of a quantum mechanical system are

Axiom (Dynamics). There is a distinguished observable, the Hamiltonian

The Hamiltonian observable H will have a physical interpretation in terms

1.054571726(47) × 10−34 Joule · seconds = 6.58211928(15) × 10−16 eV · seconds

(eV is the unit of “electron-Volt,” the energy acquired by an electron moving

(energy scale)(time scale)

1.2.2 Principles of measurement theory

The above axioms characterize the mathematical structure of a quantum

Principle (Observables). States for which the value of an observable can be

O|ψ1 = λ1 |ψ1 , O|ψ2 = λ2 |ψ2

the complex linear combination state

1.3 Unitary group representations

1.3.1 Lie groups

A fundamental notion that appears throughout diﬀerent ﬁelds of mathematics

Definition (Group). A group G is a set with an associative multiplication,

Digression. A standard deﬁnition of a Lie group is as a smooth manifold,

1.3.2 Group representations

Groups often occur as “transformation groups,” meaning groups of elements

Definition (Group action on a set). An action of a group G on a set M is

that takes a pair (g, x) of a group element g ∈ G and an element x ∈ M to

g1 · (g2 · x) = (g1 g2 ) · x (1.2)

where e is the identity element of G

where f is some function on M .