Inequivalent Quantizations and Holonomy Factor from the Path-Integral Approach

Abstract

A path-integral quantization on a homogeneous space G/H is proposed based on the guiding principle `first lift to G and then project to G/H'. It is then shown that this principle gives a simple procedure to obtain the inequivalent quantizations (superselection sectors) along with the holonomy factor (induced gauge field) found earlier by algebraic approaches. We also prove that the resulting matrix-valued path-integral is physically equivalent to the scalar-valued path-integral derived in the Dirac approach, and thereby present a unified viewpoint to discuss the basic features of quantizing on $G/H$ obtained in various approaches so far.