Free Particle Eigenfunctions of Schrodinger Equation with Quantized Space-time

TL;DR

This paper compares free particle solutions of the Schrödinger equation in continuous and quantized space-time, revealing significant differences in probability densities and operator commutators, thus exploring foundational quantum mechanics under a discrete space-time model.

Contribution

It introduces a simple model for quantized space-time and derives the modified Schrödinger equation, providing new insights into quantum behavior with discrete spatial variables.

Findings

Probability density differs between continuous and quantized models

Operator commutator $[p,x]^q$ is modified under quantized space-time

Discrete derivatives lead to different quantum dynamics

Abstract

It is well-known that the coordinate as a continuous variable, consisting of a set of all points between 0 and $L$ contradicts the observability of measurement. In other words there might exist a fundamental length in nature, such as the Planck length $\lambda_P$, so that it is not possible to measure a position coordinate with accuracy smaller than this fundamental length. It is therefore necessary to investigate the formulation of quantum mechanics using only discrete variables as coordinates. To investigate all of quantum mechanics or any branch of physics from this approach is of course a daunting task and thus it is worthwhile to consider a specific simple problem in order to formulate the basic ideas. In this note we compare the solutions of Schrodinger equation for one-dimensional free particle under the usual space-time continuum with those that are obtained when space-time is assumed to be quantized using a simple model. For this purpose, we replace the derivatives occurring in Schrodinger equation with the corresponding discrete derivatives. We compute the probability density (and the probability current) under the two scenarios; they turn out to be quite different in the two cases. We also obtain the operator identity for the commutator $[p,x]^q$ under the assumption of quantized space-time and contrast it with the usual commutator $[p,x]$.