2004/10/31 by G. N. Ord, Ord, G. N., J. Anthony Gualtieri +5 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0411005
4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2004/10/31 · openalex publication_date 2004/10/31 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the phase factor Exp[iS(x[t])] is associated with every path x[t]. Summing this factor over all paths yields Feynman's propagator as a sum-over-paths. In the original formulation, the complex phase was a mathematical device invoked to extract wave behaviour in a particle framework. In this paper we show that the phase itself can have a physical origin in time reversal, and that the propagator can be drawn by a single deterministic path.