Path Integral Solution of a Class of Explicitly Time-Dependent Potentials

Abstract

A specific class of explicitly time-dependent potentials is studied by means of path integrals. For this purpose a general formalism to treat explicitly time-dependent space-time transformations in path integrals is sketched. An explicit time-dependent model under consideration is of the form $V(q,t)=V[q/ζ(t)]/ζ^2(t)$, where $V$ is a usual potential, and $ζ(t)=(at^2+2bt+c)^{1/2}$. A recent result of Dodonov et al.\ for calculating corresponding propagators is incorporated into the path integral formalism by performing a space-time transformation. Some examples illustrate the formalism.