Representations of the Heisenberg algebra by difference operators

Abstract

We construct a class of representations of the Heisenberg algebra in terms of the complex shift operators subject to the proper continuous limit imposed by the correspondence principle. We find a suitable Hilbert space formulation of our construction for two types of shifts: (1) real shifts, (2) purely imaginary shifts. The representations involving imaginary shifts are free of spectrum doubling. We determine the corresponding coordinate and momentum operators satisfying the canonical commutation relations. The eigenvalues of the coordinate operator are in both cases discrete.