1

Path Integrals

General QM system; hermitian coordinates Q with conjugate momenta P satisfying

[Q, P ] = i

(1.1)

These are Schrodinger Picture operators at a fixed time t0 . By Spectral theorem these
operators have a complete set of eigenvectors such that
Q |qi = q |qi

(1.2)

hq 0 |qi = (q 0 q)

(1.3)

we normalise the eigenstates such that

By the completeness,
I=

dq |qi hq|

(1.4)

Similarly
P |pi = p |pi

(1.5)

hp0 |pi = (p0 p)

(1.6)

we normalise the eigenstates such that

By the completeness,
I=

dp |pi hp|

1
hq|pi = eipq ,
2

1
hp|qi = eipq
2

(1.7)
(1.8)

Suppose at time t0 the particle is found to be in a state |qi. The system evolves over time
and at time t is found to be in a state |q(t)i = U (t, t0 ) |qi with U (t, t0 ) = eiH(tt0 ) where
H is the Hamiltonian of the particle.
The probability amplitude that the system is found to be in a state |q 0 i is given by
hq 0 | eiH(tt0 ) |qi

(1.9)

In Heisenberg pic the operators have time dependence Q(t) = eiH(tt0 ) Q(t0 )eiH(tt0 ) where

Q(t0 ) = Q. Q(t) has instantaneous eigenstates |q; ti defined such that

Q(t) |q; ti = q |q; ti

(1.10)

We have |q; ti = eiH(tt0 ) |qi which is NOT the result of letting the state |qi evolve to a time
t. In the Heisenberg picture we can rewrite the transition amplitude as
hq 0 | eiH(tt0 ) |qi = hq 0 ; t|q; t0 i

(1.11)

since |qi = |q; t0 i and |q 0 ; ti = eiH(tt0 ) |q 0 i. The states |qi cannot be energy eigenstates since
then the time evolution would only yield a phase factor. Thus in a system with momentum
conserved [H, P ] = 0 if the system is in a state |pi at time t0 it will remain in that state for
all t.
The quantity hq 0 | eiH(tt0 ) |qi also arises from a different perspective. Consider the
time-dependent state |(t)i with the coordinate representation
(q, t) = hq|(t)i

(1.12)

which satisfies the Schrodinger equation

i~

(q, t) = H(q, t)
t

(1.13)

where H is the Hamiltonian of the particle. The time-evolution is governed by

i

hq2 |(t)i = (q2 , t) = hq2 | e ~ H(tt0 ) |(t0 )i

(1.14)

Inserting a complete set of position eigenstates we have

hq|(t)i =

dq0 hq| e ~ H(tt0 ) |q0 i (q0 , t0 )

(1.15)

The quantity hq| e ~ H(tt0 ) |q0 i = hq; t|q0 ; t0 i is called the propagator G(q, t; q0 , t0 ).
The propagator G(q, t; q0 , t0 ) satisfies the following properties
Markovian; G(q2 , t2 ; q0 , t0 ) =

dq1 G(q2 , t2 ; q1 , t1 )G(q1 , t1 ; q0 , t0 )

Normalisation is; G(q2 , t0 ; q0 , t0 ) = (q2 q0 )

Repeated use of the Markovian property means we can write
G(q, t; q0 , t0 ) =

dqN . . . dq1 G(q, t; qN , tN ) . . . G(q1 , t1 ; q0 , t0 )

(1.16)

This amounts to dividing the time interval t t0 into N + 1 steps of length t so that
t t0 = (N + 1)t. Thus
hq| eiH(tt0 ) |q0 i = hq| eiHt . . . eiHt |q0 i
with N + 1 exponential factors. Now insert a complete set of states I =
each exponential to have
iH(tt0 )

hq| e

|q0 i =

(1.17)
Z

dq |qi hq| between

dq1 . . . dqN hqN +1 | eiHt |qN i hqN | . . . |q1 i hq1 | eiHt |q0 i

(1.18)

where we have renamed q = qN +1 . Thus we want to evaluate hqj+1 | eiHt |qj i having taken
N + 1 to be large so that t is small, so we can approximate eiHt 1 iHt + O(t2 ).
Consider hqj+1 | eiHt |qj i and insert a complete set of momentum eigenstates
hqj+1 | eiHt |qj i =

dpj hqj+1 | eiHt |pj i hpj |qj i

(1.19)

We have H = H(Q, P ). Using the commutation relations we can rewrite H so that all
terms are s.t. all Qs are on the left of all P s. Assume this has been done. Thus
Z

dpj hqj+1 | eiH(Q,P )t |pj i hpj |qj i =

Now use hp|qi =

Z

1 eipq
2

dpj eiH(qj+1 ,pj )t hpj |qj i hqj+1 |pj i

(1.20)

to rewrite this as
"

dpj iH(qj+1 ,pj )t i(pj (qj+1 qj ) Z dpj

e
e
=
exp it pj
2
2

(qj+1 qj )
H(qj+1 , pj
t

!#

(1.21)

Insert this back into the full expression to get

N
X
dpN
dp0
pj
...
exp it
2
2
j=0

(qj+1 qj )
hqN +1 | eiH(tN t0 ) |q0 i = dq1 . . . dqN
H(qj+1 , pj
t
(1.22)
This is the DISCRETE version of the path integral. Now define smooth functions q(t) and
p(t) such that q(tk ) = qk and likewise for p. Now when we take t 0 we have
Z

N
X

Z tN

dt,

(1.23)

t0

j=0

q(tj+1 ) q(tj )
q(tj + t) q(tj )
qj+1 qj
=
=
q(t)

t
t
t

(1.24)

Define
Z

Dq(t) = lim

Z Y
N

dqj ,

Dp(t) = lim

j=1

Z Y
N

dqj
j=0 2

(1.25)

Thus we arrive at the path integral representation for the propagator / transition amplitude;
hqN +1 | e

iH(tN t0 )

|q0 i =

 Z t
N

dt (p(t)q(t)
H(q(t), p(t)))

Dq(t)Dp(t)exp i

(1.26)

t0

Now consider examples. Particle in a potential V (Q) has Hamiltonian H(Q, P ) =

V (Q). Return to the Discrete case. Now we can do the dp integrals explicitly since
they are Gaussian. We have
P2
2m

hqj+1 | e

iHt

|qj i =

p2
(qj+1 qj )
j V (qj+1
t
2m

"

dpj
exp it pj
2

!#

(1.27)

The Gaussian integral is

Z

So
iHt

hqj+1 | e

|qj i =

dpe

ap2 +bp+c

"

2 b2 +c
e 2a
a

m
qj+1 qj
exp it
2it
t


2

(1.28)
#

m
itV (qj+1 )
2

(1.29)

m 2
q (t) V (q)
2

(1.30)

Passing to the continuum limit like last time we find

hqN +1 | eiH(tN t0 ) |q0 i =

 Z t
N

Dq(t)exp i

dt

t0



where we have now defined

Z

Dq(t) = lim

Z Y
N

dqj

j=1

m
2it

(N +1)/2

(1.31)

The term in the exponential is just the classical action so we have

hqN +1 | e

iH(tN t0 )

|q0 i =

Dq(t)eiS

(1.32)

For a free particle we can compute the transition amplitude exactly without needing to
resort to path integrals. Consider
00 t0

hq 00 | eiH(t

|q 0 i

(1.33)

with H =

1
P2
2m

and insert a complete set of momentum eigenstates to get

00

hq | e

dpe

iH(t00 t0 )

ip2 (t00 t0 )/2m

|q i =

00

hq |pi hp|q i =

dp hq 00 | eiP
Z

2 (t00 t0 )/2m

|pi hp|q 0 i

i(t00 t0 ) 2
p + i(q 00 q 0 )p
dpexp
2m
"

(1.34)
#

(1.35)

Evaluating the Gaussian integral gives us

00

iH(t00 t0

hq | e

|q i =

m
m q 00 q 0
exp
i
2i(t00 t0 )
2 t00 t0
"

#!

(1.36)