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Article
Why Quantum Mechanics is Complex
Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India
  • James Thomas Wheeler, Utah State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-1997
Arxiv Identifier
arXiv:hep-th/9708088v1
Disciplines
Abstract

The zero-signature Killing metric of a new, real-valued, 8-dimensional gauging of the conformal group accounts for the complex character of quantum mechanics. The new gauge theory gives manifolds which generalize curved, relativistic phase space. The difference in signature between the usual momentum space metric and the Killing metric of the new geometry gives rise to an imaginary proportionality constant connecting the momentumlike variables of the two spaces. Path integral quantization becomes an average over dilation factors, with the integral of the Weyl vector taking the role of the action. Minimal U(1) electromagnetic coupling is predicted.

Comments

Published by in the Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India. Publisher PDF available for download through link above. Paper received Honorable Mention 1996 GRG Essay.

Citation Information
Wheeler, J. (1997). Why quantum mechanics is complex. Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India, (25), 591-599.