Regularized Quantum Motion in a Bounded Set: Hilbertian Aspects – ICMS Seminar Talk by Prof. Jean-Pierre Gazeau

Abstract: It is well known that the momentum operator canonically conjugated to the position operator for a particle confined within a bounded interval of the line (with Dirichlet boundary conditions) is not essentially self-adjoint, as it possesses a continuum of self-adjoint extensions. In this talk, we demonstrate that essential self-adjointness can be restored by symmetrically weighting the momentum operator with a positive bounded function that approximates the indicator function of the given interval. This weighted momentum operator arises naturally from a similarly weighted classical momentum through the Weyl-Heisenberg covariant integral quantization of functions or distributions.

Reference:

F. Bagarello, J.-P. Gazeau, C. Trapani, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 540 (2024) 128631