ISSN:
1089-7658
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Mathematics
,
Physics
Notes:
Arguments are presented that make the choice of the connection, which gives rise to the Berry phase not only natural, but unique, both in the Abelian and the non-Abelian cases. Invariance is invoked under unitary transformations of the probability amplitudes in quantum systems to force the connection to be invariant under the unitary group. Because the action is not free, the horizontal subspace chosen by the connection has to be invariant under the little group, and that makes it orthogonal to the fiber's direction, yielding the conventional Berry connection. The argument works just as well for the non-Abelian case, where the fibers are orthonormal frames (Stiefel manifolds), and the state space a Grassmanian, with a transitive but not free unitary action.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.529571
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