Quantum Mechanics from an Equivalence Principle

Abstract

We postulate that physical states are equivalent under coordinate transformations. We then implement this equivalence principle first in the case of one-dimensional stationary systems showing that it leads to the quantum analogue of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation which in turn implies the Schroedinger equation. In this context the Planck constant plays the role of covariantizing parameter. The construction is deeply related to the GL(2,C)-symmetry of the second-order differential equation associated to the Legendre transformation which selects, in the case of the quantum analogue of the Hamiltonian characteristic function, self-dual states which guarantee its existence for any physical system. The universal nature of the self-dual states implies the Schroedinger equation in any dimension.