The Jordan formulation of Quantum Mechanics: a review

2016/12/29 by Paul Townsend, Townsend, Paul K.
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1612.09228

openalex publication_date 2016/12/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

This is a transcription of a conference proceedings from 1985. It reviews the Jordan algebra formulation of quantum mechanics. A possible novelty is the discussion of time evolution; the associator takes over the role of i times the commutator in the standard density matrix formulation, and for the Jordan algebra of complex Hermitian matrices this implies a Hamiltonian of the form H= i[x,y] + λ\mathbbI for traceless Hermitian x,y and real number λ. Other possibilities for time evolution in the Jordan formulation are briefly considered.

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