Statistical Descriptions of Free Boson Fields.
ResearchPublished 1964
A demonstration showing that the rise of conventional stochastic methods in the Heisenberg picture to describe a light beam produced by a statistical ensemble of classical (c-number) sources is equivalent to representing the statistical state of the light beam by a density matrix having a Glauber P-representation. The relation between the classical and quantum statistical descriptions implied by Sudarshan's probability functional approach is shown to be purely formal and without physical meaning. Sudarshan's statement that the probability functional method can be used to prove that all correlation functions of the beam determine its density matrix is shown to be incorrect. 21 pp.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web Only
- Year: 1964
- Pages: 21
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/pubs
- Document Number: RM-4103-PR
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Chicago Manual of Style
This publication is part of the RAND research memorandum series. The research memorandum series, a product of RAND from 1948 to 1973, included working papers meant to report current results of RAND research to appropriate audiences.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.