Quantum Blobs

Found Phys. 2013;43(4):440-457. doi: 10.1007/s10701-012-9636-x. Epub 2012 Feb 29.

Abstract

Quantum blobs are the smallest phase space units of phase space compatible with the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics and having the symplectic group as group of symmetries. Quantum blobs are in a bijective correspondence with the squeezed coherent states from standard quantum mechanics, of which they are a phase space picture. This allows us to propose a substitute for phase space in quantum mechanics. We study the relationship between quantum blobs with a certain class of level sets defined by Fermi for the purpose of representing geometrically quantum states.

Keywords: Coherent states; Fermi’s function; Quantum phase space; Symplectic capacity; Wigner function.