Stone–von Neumann theorem

In mathematics and in theoretical physics, the Stone–von Neumann theorem is any one of a number of different formulations of the uniqueness of the canonical commutation relations between position and momentum operators. The name is for Marshall Stone and von Neumann (1931).

1 Trying to represent the commutation relations
2 Uniqueness of representation
- 2.1 Representation theory formulation
- 2.2 Reformulation via Fourier transform
3 The Heisenberg group
- 3.1 Relation to the Fourier transform
4 Representations of finite Heisenberg groups
5 Generalizations
6 See also
7 References

Trying to represent the commutation relations

In quantum mechanics, physical observables are represented mathematically by linear operators on Hilbert spaces.

For a single particle moving on the real line R, there are two important observables: position and momentum. In the quantum-mechanical description of such a particle, the position operator x and momentum operator p are respectively given by

$[x \psi](x) = x \psi(x) \quad$

$[p \psi](x) = - i \hbar \frac{\partial \psi}{\partial x}$

on the domain V of infinitely differentiable functions of compact support on R. Assume ħ to be a fixed non-zero real number — in quantum theory ħ is (up to a factor of 2π) Planck's constant, which is not dimensionless; it takes a small numerical value in terms of units of the macroscopic world.

The operators x, p satisfy the canonical commutation relation Lie algebra,

$[x,p] = x p - p x = i \hbar.$

Already in his classic book, Hermann Weyl observed that this commutation law was impossible to satisfy for linear operators P, Q acting on finite-dimensional spaces (as is clear by taking the trace of a matrix), unless ħ vanishes. Some analysis shows that, in fact, any two self-adjoint operators satisfying the above commutation relation cannot be both bounded. For notational convenience, the nonvanishing square root of ħ may be absorbed into the normalization of Q and P, so that, effectively, it amounts to 1 below. By exponentiating these operators, however, he showed that he could obtain braiding relations for the exponential operators U and V, (which, incidentally, may also be effectively realized on finite-dimensional spaces, through Sylvester's celebrated clock and shift matrices).

Uniqueness of representation

One would like to classify representations of the canonical commutation relation by two self-adjoint operators acting on separable Hilbert spaces, up to unitary equivalence. By Stone's theorem, there is a one-to-one correspondence between self-adjoint operators and (strongly continuous) one parameter unitary groups.

Let Q and P be two self-adjoint operators satisfying the canonical commutation relation, and e^{it Q} and e^{is P} be the corresponding unitary groups given by functional calculus. A formal computation with power series (degenerate Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formula) shows that

$\operatorname{e}^{itQ} \operatorname{e}^{isP} - \operatorname{e}^{i st} \operatorname{e}^{isP} \operatorname{e}^{itQ} = 0.$

Conversely, given two one parameter unitary groups U(t) and V(s) satisfying the relation

$U(t)V(s) = \operatorname{e}^{i st} V(s) U(t) \quad \forall s, t, \; \quad (*)$

formally differentiating at 0 shows that the two infinitesmal generators satisfy the canonical commutation relation. These formal calculations can be made rigorous.

Therefore, there is a one-to-one correspondence between representations of the canonical commutation relation and two one parameter unitary groups U(t) and V(s) satisfying (*). This braiding formulation of the canonical commutation relations (CCR) for one-parameter unitary groups is called the Weyl form of the CCR.

The problem thus becomes classifying two jointly irreducible one-parameter unitary groups U(t) and V(s) which satisfy the Weyl relation on separable Hilbert spaces. The answer is the content of the Stone–von Neumann theorem: all such pairs of one-parameter unitary groups are unitarily equivalent. In other words, for any two such U(t) and V(s) acting jointly irreducibly on a Hilbert space H, there is a unitary operator

$W: L^2(\mathbb{R}) \rightarrow H$

so that

$W^*U(t)W = \operatorname{e}^{itQ} \quad \mbox{and} \quad W^*V(s)W = \operatorname{e}^{isP},$

where P and Q are the position and momentum operators from above.

Historically, this result was significant, because it was a key step in proving that Heisenberg's matrix mechanics, which presents quantum mechanical observables and dynamics in terms of infinite matrices, is unitarily equivalent to Schrödinger's wave mechanical formulation (see Schrödinger picture).

Representation theory formulation

In terms of representation theory, the Stone–von Neumann theorem classifies certain unitary representations of the Heisenberg group. This is discussed in more detail in the Heisenberg group section, below.

Informally stated, with certain technical assumptions, every representation of the Heisenberg group $H_{2n%2B1}$ is equivalent to the position operators and momentum operators on Rⁿ. Alternatively, that they are all equivalent to the Weyl algebra (or CCR algebra) on a symplectic space of dimension 2n.

More formally, there is a unique (up to scale) non-trivial central strongly continuous unitary representation.

This was later generalized by Mackey theory – and was the motivation for the introduction of the Heisenberg group in quantum physics.

In detail:

The continuous Heisenberg group is a central extension of the abelian Lie group R²ⁿ by a copy of R,
the corresponding Heisenberg algebra is a central extension of the abelian Lie algebra R²ⁿ (with trivial bracket) by a copy of R,
the discrete Heisenberg group is a central extension of the free abelian group Z²ⁿ by a copy of Z, and
the discrete Heisenberg group module p is a central extension of the free abelian p-group (Z/pZ)²ⁿ by a copy of Z/pZ.

These are thus all semidirect product, and hence relatively easily understood. In all cases, if one has a representation $H \to A$ where the center maps to zero, then one simply has a representation of the corresponding abelian group or algebra, which is Fourier theory.

If the center does not map to zero, one has a more interesting theory, particularly if one restricts oneself to central representations.

Concretely, by a central representation one means a representation such that the center of the Heisenberg group maps into the center of the algebra: for example, if one is studying matrix representations or representations by operators on a Hilbert space, then the center of the matrix algebra or the operator algebra is the scalar matrices. Thus the representation of the center of the Heisenberg group is determined by a scale value, called the quantization value (in physics terms, Planck's constant), and if this goes to zero, one gets a representation of the abelian group (in physics terms, this is the classical limit).

More formally, the group algebra of the Heisenberg group $K[H]$ has center $K[\mathbf{R}],$ so rather than simply thinking of the group algebra as an algebra over the field of scalars K, one may think of it as an algebra over the commutative algebra $K[\mathbf{R}].$ As the center of a matrix algebra or operator algebra is the scalar matrices, a $K[\mathbf{R}]$ -structure on the matrix algebra is a choice of scalar matrix – a choice of scale. Given such a choice of scale, a central representation of the Heisenberg group is a map of $K[\mathbf{R}]$ -algebras $K[H] \to A,$ which is the formal way of saying that it sends the center to a chosen scale.

Then the Stone–von Neumann theorem is that, given a quantization value, every strongly continuous unitary representation is unitarily equivalent to the standard representation as position and momentum.

Reformulation via Fourier transform

Let G be a locally compact abelian group and G^{^} be the Pontryagin dual of G. The Fourier-Plancherel transform defined by

$f \mapsto {\hat f}(\gamma) = \int_G \overline{\gamma(t)} f(t) d \mu (t)$

extends to a C*-isomorphism from the group C*-algebra C*(G) of G and C₀(G^{^}), i.e. the spectrum of C*(G) is precisely G^{^}. When G is the real line R, this is Stone's theorem characterizing one parameter unitary groups. The theorem of Stone-von Neumann can also be restated using similar language.

The group G acts on the C*-algebra C₀(G) by right translation ρ: for s in G and f in C₀(G),

$(s \cdot f)(t) = f(t %2B s).$

Under the isomorphism given above, this action becomes the natural action of G on C*(G^{^}):

$\widehat{ (s \cdot f) }(\gamma) = \gamma(s) \hat{f} (\gamma).$

So a covariant representation corresponding to the C*-crossed product

$C^*( \hat{G} ) \rtimes_{\hat{\rho}} G$

is a unitary representation U(s) of G and V(γ) of G^{^} such that

$U(s) V(\gamma) U^*(s) = \gamma(s) V(\gamma).\;$

It is a general fact that covariant representations are in one-to-one correspondence with *-representation of the corresponding crossed product. On the other hand, all irreducible representations of

$C_0(G) \rtimes_{\rho} G$

are unitarily equivalent to the K(L(²G)), the compact operators on L(²G)). Therefore all pairs {U(s), V(γ)} are unitarily equivalent. Specializing to the case where G = R yields the Stone–von Neumann theorem.

The Heisenberg group

The commutation relations for P, Q look very similar to the commutation relations that define the Lie algebra of general Heisenberg group H_n for n a positive integer. This is the Lie group of (n+2) × (n+2) square matrices of the form

$\operatorname{M}(a,b,c) = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & a & c \\ 0 & 1_n & b \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}.$

In fact, using the Heisenberg group, we can formulate a far-reaching generalization of the Stone von Neumann theorem. Note that the center of H_n consists of matrices M(0, 0, c).

Theorem. For each non-zero real number h there is an irreducible representation U_h acting on the Hilbert space L²(Rⁿ) by

$[U_h(\operatorname{M}(a,b,c))]\psi(x) = e^{i (b \cdot x %2B h c)} \psi(x%2Bh a).$

All these representations are unitarily inequivalent and any irreducible representation which is not trivial on the center of H_n is unitarily equivalent to exactly one of these.

Note that U_h is a unitary operator because it is the composition of two operators which are easily seen to be unitary: the translation to the left by h a and multiplication by a function of absolute value 1. To show U_h is multiplicative is a straightforward calculation. The hard part of the theorem is showing the uniqueness which is beyond the scope of the article. However, below we sketch a proof of the corresponding Stone–von Neumann theorem for certain finite Heisenberg groups.

In particular, irreducible representations π, π' of the Heisenberg group H_n which are non-trivial on the center of H_n are unitarily equivalent if and only if π(z) = π'(z) for any z in the center of H_n.

One representation of the Heisenberg group that is important in number theory and the theory of modular forms is the theta representation, so named because the Jacobi theta function is invariant under the action of the discrete subgroup of the Heisenberg group.

Relation to the Fourier transform

For any non-zero h, the mapping

$\alpha_h: \operatorname{M}(a,b,c) \rightarrow \operatorname{M}(-h^{-1} b,h a, c -a b)$

is an automorphism of H_n which is the identity on the center of H_n. In particular, the representations U_h and U_h α are unitarily equivalent. This means that there is a unitary operator W on L²(Rⁿ) such that for any g in H_n,

$W U_h(g) W^* = U_h \alpha (g). \quad$

Moreover, by irreducibility of the representations U_h, it follows that up to a scalar, such an operator W is unique (cf. Schur's lemma).

Theorem. The operator W is, up to a scalar multiple, the Fourier transform on L²(Rⁿ).

This means that (ignoring the factor of (2 π)^n/2 in the definition of the Fourier transform)

$\int_{\mathbb{R}^n} e^{-i x \cdot p} e^{i (b \cdot x %2B h c)}\psi (x%2Bh a) \ dx = e^{ i (h a \cdot p %2B h (c - b \cdot a))} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n} e^{-i y \cdot ( p - b)} \psi(y) \ dy.$

The previous theorem can actually be used to prove the unitary nature of the Fourier transform, also known as the Plancherel theorem. Moreover, note that

$(\alpha_h)^2 \operatorname{M}(a,b,c) =\operatorname{M}(- a, -b, c).$

Theorem. The operator W₁ such that

$W_1 U_h W_1^* = U_h \alpha^2 (g) \quad$

is the reflection operator

$[W_1 \psi](x) = \psi(-x).\quad$

From this fact the Fourier inversion formula easily follows.

Representations of finite Heisenberg groups

The Heisenberg group H_n(K) is defined for any commutative ring K. In this section let us specialize to the field K = Z/p Z for p a prime. This field has the property that there is an imbedding ω of K as an additive group into the circle group T. Note that H_n(K) is finite with cardinality |K|^{2 n+1}. For finite Heisenberg group H_n(K) one can give a simple proof of the Stone–von Neumann theorem using simple properties of character functions of representations. These properties follow from the orthogonality relations for characters of representations of finite groups.

For any non-zero h in K define the representation U_h on the finite-dimensional inner product space l²(Kⁿ) by

$[U_h \operatorname{M}(a,b,c) \psi](x) = \omega(b \cdot x %2B h c) \psi(x%2B h a).$

Theorem. For a fixed non-zero h, the character function χ of U_h is given by:

$\chi (\operatorname{M}(a,b,c)) = \left\{ \begin{matrix} |\mathbf{K}|^n \ \omega( h c) & \mbox{ if } a = b = 0 \\ 0 & \mbox{ otherwise}. \end{matrix} \right.$

It follows that

$\frac{1}{|\operatorname{H}_n(\mathbf{K})|} \sum_{g \in \operatorname{H}_n(\mathbf{K})} |\chi(g)|^2 = \frac{1}{|\mathbf{K}|^{2 n%2B1}} |\mathbf{K}|^{2 n} |\mathbf{K}| = 1.$

By the orthogonality relations for characters of representations of finite groups this fact implies the corresponding Stone–von Neumann theorem for Heisenberg groups H_n(Z/p Z), particularly:

Irreducibility of U_h
Pairwise inequivalence of all the representations U_h.

Generalizations

The Stone–von Neumann theorem admits numerous generalizations. Much of the early work of George Mackey was directed at obtaining a formulation of the theory of induced representations developed originally by Frobenius for finite groups to the context of unitary representations of locally compact topological groups.

References

Kirillov, A. A. (1976), Elements of the theory of representations, Grundlehren der Mathematischen Wissenschaften, 220, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-07476-4, MR 0407202
Mackey, G. W. The Theory of Unitary Group Representations, The University of Chicago Press, 1976
von Neumann, J. (1931), "Die Eindeutigkeit der Schrödingerschen Operatoren", Mathematische Annalen (Springer Berlin / Heidelberg) 104: 570–578, doi:10.1007/BF01457956, ISSN 0025-5831

von Neumann, J. (1932), "Ueber Einen Satz Von Herrn M. H. Stone" (in German), Annals of Mathematics, Second Series (Annals of Mathematics) 33 (3): 567–573, ISSN 0003-486X, JSTOR 1968535
Stone, M. H. (1930), "Linear Transformations in Hilbert Space. III. Operational Methods and Group Theory", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (National Academy of Sciences) 16 (2): 172–175, ISSN 0027-8424, JSTOR 85485
Stone, M. H. (1932), "On one-parameter unitary groups in Hilbert Space", Annals of Mathematics 33 (3): 643–648, JSTOR 1968538

Weyl, H. (1927), "Quantenmechanik und Gruppentheorie", Zeitschrift für Physik, 46 (1927) pp. 1–46, doi:10.1007/BF02055756; Weyl, H., The Theory of Groups and Quantum Mechanics, Dover Publications, 1950, ISBN 978-1163183434.