though the one point problem
We must notice the analogy
the “classical” problem in Hamiltonian dynamics ![]() | the quantum problem in Schrodinger/H picture ![]() |
|---|---|
| (physical) space is | (physical) space is |
| configucation space is set of all positions possible | the domain of the wave function is |
| the phase space is set of all positions, momentum pairs possible | the “quantum phase space” is the set of all wave functions, set of all square integrable functions |
| Hamiltonian is a smooth function | the “Hamiltonian” is a Hermitian linear functions |
| Hamilton’s equations | Schrodinger equation |
| Observables are smooth functions | Observables are Hermitian linear functions |
| The set of all observables is the set of all smooth functions, so | The set of all observables is the set of all Hermitian linear functions |
| position | |
| momentum | |
| momentum “generates” translations - | momentum “generates” translations - |
| angular momentum “generates” rotations - | angular momentum “generates” rotations - |
| the group action is symplectic, and more specifically Hamiltonian! | the above group actions act by unitary transformations because exponential of Hermitian maps are unitary |
This can be said in brief by saying its a Lie algebra homomorphism from a Lie subalgebra
This is precisely what quantization is!
This however, might not be unique, or even exist for any set
This analogy can be generalised many folds (geometric quantization of a Hamiltonian group action).
plot twist: QM Hamiltonian dynamics
For finite dimensions, any anti-Hermitian matrix
which is given by
This can be seen as the following statement
(I think this is correct) where the groups are Unitary group - Wikipedia and Symplectic group - Wikipedia.
Hence, what this means is
This just means we could easily work with Hamilton’s equations and the Hamiltonian
Notice the Hamiltonian for a operator
has a QM interpretation!
As a consequence of this chain of thought, I give the example of how two harmonic oscillators and the spin-
This can be generalized to infinite dimensions: Geometric formulation of quantum mechanics - arxiv.org/pdf/1503.00238.pdf.
What does this mean physically, or even (physics) philosophically?

