Path integral action in the generalized uncertainty principle framework

TL;DR

This paper explores the path integral formulation of a particle under the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP), revealing an upper velocity bound and constraints on GUP parameters, with applications to free particles and harmonic oscillators.

Contribution

It derives the classical action and quantum fluctuations for particles in arbitrary potentials within the GUP framework, including linear and quadratic momentum terms.

Findings

Established an upper velocity bound for free particles.

Found restrictions on GUP parameters, specifically $eta > 4 \alpha^2$.

Derived explicit expressions for classical action and quantum fluctuations.

Abstract

Various gedanken experiments of quantum gravity phenomenology in search of a complete theory of gravity near the Planck scale indicate a modification of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). This modification leads to nontrivial contributions on the Hamiltonian of a nonrelativistic particle moving in an arbitrary potential. In this paper we study the path integral representation of a particle moving in an arbitrary potential using the most general form of the GUP containing both the linear and quadratic contributions in momentum. First we work out the action of the particle in an arbitrary potential and hence find an upper bound to the velocity of a free particle. This upper bound interestingly imposes restrictions on the relation between the GUP parameters $\alpha$ and $\beta$. Analysis shows that $ \beta > 4 \alpha^2$. We then deduce the mathematical expressions of classical action and the quantum fluctuations for both free particle and the harmonic oscillator systems.