The uncertainty principle and the energy identity for holomorphic maps in geometric quantum mechanics

Abstract

The theory of geometric quantum mechanics describes a quantum system as a Hamiltonian dynamical system with a complex projective Hilbert space as its phase space, thus equipped with a Riemannian metric in addition to a symplectic structure. This paper extends the geometric quantum theory to include aspects of the symplectic topology of the state space by identifying the Robertson-Schr\"{o}dinger uncertainty relation for pure quantum states as the differential version of the energy identity in the theory of $J$-holomorphic curves. We consider a family of maps from a Riemann surface into a finite-dimensional quantum state space by using the vector fields generated by two quantum observables,and show that the Fubini-Study metric tensor pulls back by such a map to the covariance tensor for the two observables. By calculating the map energy density in the pull-back metric, the uncertainty relation is represented as an equality that compares the map energy differential to the sum of the pull-back of the symplectic form and a positive definite term that vanishes when the map is holomorphic. Saturation of the Robertson-Schr\"{o}dinger inequality occurs when the map is conformal and the off-diagonal covariance terms vanish. For compact Riemann surfaces where such a map can be globally defined, if the map is holomorphic, it is harmonic and its image is a minimal surface. In this case, the uncertainty product integral is a topological invariant that depends only on the homology class of the curve modulo its boundary.