Canonical transforms. I. Complex linear transforms

Abstract

Recent work by Moshinsky et al. on the role and applications of canonical transformations in quantum mechanics has focused attention on some complex extensions of linear transformations mapping the position and momentum operators x̂ and p̂ to a pair η̂ and ζ̂ of canonically conjugate, but not necessarily Hermitian, operators. In this paper we show that for a continuum of complex linear canonical transformations, a related Hilbert space of entire analytic functions exists with a scalar product over the complex plane such that the pair η̂, ζ̂ can be realized in the Schrödinger representation η and −id/dη. We provide a unitary mapping onto the ordinary Hilbert space of square-integrable functions over the real line through an integral transform. The transform kernels provide a representation of a subsemigroup of SL(2,C). The well-known Bargmann transform is the special case when η̂ and iζ̂ are the harmonic oscillator raising and lowering operators. The Moshinsky-Quesne transform is regained in the limit when the canonical transformation becomes real, a case which contains the ordinary Fourier transform. We present a realization of these transforms through hyperdifferential operators.