Aronszajn's reproducing kernels and Feynman propagators

Abstract

This study shows how Aronszajn's theory of reproducing kernels can be of use for the construction the Hilbert spaces of quantum theory. We show that the Feynman propagator is an example of a reproducing kernel under a boundedness condition. To every Lagrangian thus corresponds a Hilbert space that does not need to be postulated \emph{a priori}. For the free non-relativistic particle, we justify mathematically the concept of space-time granularity. Reproducing kernels allow for a functional, rather than distributional, description of the Hilbert spaces of quantum theory, including the Fock space.