Abstract
Without the gauge invariance, any theory is untenable. In classical theory, the Hamiltonian of a charged particle is
where p is the kinetic momentum and A the vector potential. Both are unobservable; one could have started with new potentials A′, V′ such that
where χ(x, t) is a completely arbitrary function. Only fields appear in the classical equations of motion; quite the other way, the gauge transformed Schrödinger equation in terms of the old potentials reads
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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(2007). Quantum Phases. In: Topics and Methods in Condensed Matter Theory. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70727-1_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70727-1_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-70726-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-70727-1
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