Canonical Operators for the Simple Harmonic Oscillator

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Abstract
Angle and action operators (w, j) for the simple harmonic oscillator are treated as resulting from a canonical transformation of coordinate and momentum operators (q, k) generated by a one-sided unitary operator U such that U†U = 1 and UU† commutes with k but not with q. From the discrete spectrum of the number operator n, eigenvectors |η〉 are constructed for every real value of η; the set {|η〉} is complete and orthogonal. Another complete set {|W〉} is obtained, consisting of the Fourier transforms of the kets in the set {|η〉}. The angle operator is w=U†qU=∫dW |W〉 W 〈W|. The set {|W〉} is not orthogonal; |W〉 is not an eigenvector of w. If v is defined as ∫dW|W〉exp (−2πiW) 〈W|, then the creation and destruction operators are given by a = vn½, a† = n½v†. v is a one-sided unitary operator such that vv† = 1, but v†v = 1 − |0〉 〈0|, where |0〉 is the ground state of the oscillator; v and v† are similar to the operators E- and E+ of Carruthers and Nieto. The Weyl transforms of w and j = 2πℏ(n + ½1) are the classical angle and action variables of the oscillator. The Weyl transform is formulated in terms of the coherent states of the oscillator. A time operator canonical to the Hamiltonian is defined as t = 2πw/ω (ω/2π = frequency). The observables for the oscillator are also given in the Heisenberg picture and their classical limits are considered.

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