Mathematical Aspects of the Weyl Correspondence

Abstract

The Weyl correspondence between classical and quantum observables is rigorously formulated for a linear mechanical system with a finite number of degrees of freedom. A multiplication of functions and a *-operation are introduced to make the Hilbert space of Lebesgue square-integrable complex-valued functions on phase space into a H*-algebra. The Weyl correspondence is realized as a *-isomorphism f → W(f) of this H*-algebra onto the H*-algebra of Hilbert-Schmidt operators on the Hilbert space of Lebesgue square-integrable complex-valued functions on configuration space. Moreover, the kernel of W(f) is exhibited in terms of a Fourier-Plancherel transform of f. Elementary properties of the Wigner quasiprobability density function and its characteristic function are deduced and used to obtain these results.