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Relativistic generalization of path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) method has been proposed. The problem of relativistic oscillator has been studied in the framework of this approach. Ultra-relativistic and nonrelativistic limits have been discussed. We show that PIMC method can be effectively used for investigation of relativistic systems.

The electron propagator in the Aharonov-Bohm effect is investigated using the Feynman path integral formalism. The calculation of the propagator is effected using a variation of the Metropolis Monte Carlo algorithm. Unlike “exact” calculations, our approach permits us to include a nonvanishing solenoid radius. We investigate the dependence of the resulting interference pattern on the magnetic field as well as the solenoid radius. Our results agree with the exact case in the limit of an infinitesimally small solenoid radius.

We evaluate explicitly the quark–antiquark static potential on Quantum Chromodynamics QCD (SU(3)) by using the dimensional regularization scheme in the context of the Mandelstam approximation for the gluonic interaction. We obtain its charge confining behavior in opposition to the expected result of a screening charge dynamics. Additionally we present a connection between the Mandelstam fourth-order propagator and the Polyakov's axion field-string representation for Wilson loops on QCD (SU(∞)).

We solve time-sliced path integrals of one-dimensional Coulomb system in an exact manner. In formulating path integrals, we make use of the Duru–Kleinert transformation with Fujikawa's gauge theoretical technique. Feynman kernels in the momentum representation both for bound states and scattering states will be obtained with clear pole structure that explains the exactness of the path integral. The path integrals presented here can be, therefore, evaluated exactly by making use of Cauchy's integral theorem.

Motivated by the Hamilton–Jacobi approach of constrained systems, we analyze the classical structure of a four-dimensional superstring. The equations of motion for a singular system are obtained as total differential equations in many variables. The path integral quantization based on Hamilton–Jacobi approach is applied to quantize the system, and the integration is taken over the canonical phase space coordinates.

We revisit the extended Feynman formula for the harmonic oscillator beyond and at caustics. The extension has been made by some authors, however, it is not obtained by the discrete formulation of path integral, which we consider the most reliable regularization of it. We derive the result by, especially at caustics, more rigorous method than previous.

The result of performing integrations over connection type variables in the path integral for the discrete field theory may be poorly defined in the case of non-compact gauge group with the Haar measure exponentially growing in some directions. This point is studied in the case of the discrete form of the first-order formulation of the Einstein gravity theory. Here the result of interest can be defined as generalized function (of the rest of variables of the type of tetrad or elementary areas), i.e. a functional on a set of probe functions. To define this functional, we calculate its values on the products of components of the area tensors, the so-called moments. The resulting distribution (in fact, probability distribution) has singular (δ-function-like) part with support in the nonphysical region of the complex plane of area tensors and regular part (usual function) which decays exponentially at large areas. As we discuss, this also provides suppression of large edge lengths which is important for internal consistency, if one asks whether gravity on short distances can be discrete. Some other features of the obtained probability distribution including occurrence of the local maxima at a number of the approximately equidistant values of area are also considered.

Integration over connection type variables in the path integral for the discrete form of the first-order formulation of general relativity theory is studied. The result (a generalized function of the rest of variables of the type of tetrad or elementary areas) can be defined through its moments, i.e. integrals of it with the area tensor monomials. In our previous paper these moments have been defined by deforming integration contours in the complex plane as if we had passed to a Euclidean-like region. In this paper we define and evaluate the moments in the genuine Minkowski region. The distribution of interest resulting from these moments in this non-positively defined region contains the divergences. We prove that the latter contribute only to the singular (δ-function like) part of this distribution with support in the non-physical region of the complex plane of area tensors while in the physical region this distribution (usual function) confirms that defined in our previous paper which decays exponentially at large areas.

Besides that, we evaluate the basic integrals over which the integral over connections in the general path integral can be expanded.

The problem of normalization related to energy-dependent potentials is examined in the context of the path integral approach, and a justification is given. As examples, the harmonic oscillator and the hydrogen atom (radial) where, respectively the frequency and the Coulomb's constant depend on energy, are considered and their propagators determined. From their spectral decomposition, we have found that the wave functions extracted are correctly normalized.

In this paper, we have constructed the Green function of the Feshbach–Villars (FV) spinless particle in a noncommutative (NC) phase-space coordinates, where the Pauli matrices describing the charge symmetry are replaced by the Grassmannian odd variables. Subsequently, for the perform calculations, we diagonalize the Hamiltonian governing the dynamics of the system via the Foldy–Wouthuysen (FW) canonical transformation. The exact calculations have been done in the cases of free particle and magnetic field interaction. In both cases, the energy eigenvalues and their corresponding eigenfunctions are deduced.

The problem of the Dirac particle submitted to a wave $(E,B)$ of a four-dimensional constant electromagnetic tensor is solved with the path integral approach via the use of Lorentz transformation and with an adequate choice for the velocity of the mobile referential.

We show that the supersymmetric action associated to the pair $(E,B)$ can be determined from that associated to the pair $(0,B^{\prime })$ and from that associated to the pair $(E^{\prime },0)$ following simple relations.

The wave functions and the energy spectrums are thus exactly determined and tested. Special cases are considered as well.

By proceeding with the idea that the presence of physical (BRST invariant) extra factors in the path integral is equivalent to taking into account explicitly the arbitrariness in resolving the quantum master equation, we consider the field–antifield quantization procedure both with the Abelian and the non-Abelian gauge fixing.

In this paper, the propagator of a two-dimensional Dirac oscillator in the presence of a uniform electric field is derived by using the path integral technique. The fact that the globally named approach is used in this work redirects, beforehand, our search for the propagator of the Dirac equation to that of the propagator of its quadratic form. The internal motions relative to the spin are represented by two fermionic oscillators, which are described by Grassmannian variables, according to Schwinger’s fermionic model. Once the integration over the anticommuting variables (Grassmannian variables) is accomplished, the problem becomes the one of finding a non-relativistic propagator with only bosonic variables. The energy spectrum of the electron and the corresponding eigenspinors are also obtained in this work.

Classical geometry can be described either in terms of a metric tensor $g_{ab}(x)$ or in terms of the geodesic distance ${\sigma }^2(x,x^{\prime })$. Recent work, however, has shown that the geodesic distance is better suited to describe the quantum structure of spacetime. This is because one can incorporate some of the key quantum effects by replacing ${\sigma }^2$ by another function $S[{\sigma }^2]$ such that $S[0]=L_0^2$ is nonzero. This allows one to introduce a zero-point-length in the spacetime. I show that the geodesic distance can be an emergent construct, arising in the form of a correlator $S[{\sigma }^2(x,y)]=〈J(x)J(y)〉$, of a pregeometric variable $J(x)$, which can be interpreted as the quantum density of spacetime events. This approach also shows why null surfaces play a special role in the interface of quantum theory and gravity. I describe several technical and conceptual aspects of this construction and discuss some of its implications.

In the context of quantum mechanics reformulated in a modified Hilbert space, we can formulate the Feynman’s path integral approach for the quantum systems with position-dependent mass particle using the formulation of position-dependent infinitesimal translation operator. Which is similar a deformed quantum mechanics based on modified commutation relations. An illustration of calculation is given in the case of the harmonic oscillator, the infinite square well and the inverse square plus Coulomb potentials.

The Fradkin–Schwinger functional methods to represent a Green function in an external gravitational field are used to study the eikonal and the next-to-eikonal limit, including the nonlinear gravitational interactions, of the scattering amplitudes of an ultra-relativistic scalar particle on a static super-massive scalar target in the nearly forward limit. The functional approach confirms the exponentiation of the leading eikonal which also applies to the first non-leading power in the energy of the light particle, moreover includes the interaction at impact parameter much larger than the Schwarzschild radius associated with the center of mass energy in the ultra-relativistic limit.

Exact Green’s function related to a Dirac particle submitted to the combination of Aharonov–Bohm and Coulomb potentials in $(2+1$) coordinate space is analytically calculated via path integral formalism. The Pauli matrices which describe the spin dynamics are replaced by two fermionic oscillators via the Schwinger model. The energy spectrum as well as the corresponding normalized wave functions are extracted following this approach. The interesting properties of the spinors are thus deduced after symmetrization. According to the symmetric form for Green’s function, it is shown that the non-relativistic limit of the Dirac particle is undertaken with much ease.

The problem of the strong-coupling regime is considered in the scalar superrenormalizable field theory . By using the Gaussian transform, we have found an optimal representation within which the exact strong-coupling behavior of the free energy is already obtained in the leading-order approximation. Within this representation, the interaction becomes slower as the bare coupling constant grows, so the higher-order corrections can be systematically estimated by using a modified perturbation scheme. The next-to-leading terms give rise in insignificant corrections for finite coupling. The regularization procedure regroups the initial counterterms so that the divergencies are exactly removed in final expressions. The main idea is demonstrated in the simplest examples of a plain quartic integral and the anharmonic oscillator.

We present a coordinate-invariant approach, based on a Pauli–Villars measure, to the definition of the path integral in two-dimensional conformal field theory. We discuss some advantages of this approach compared to the operator formalism and alternative path integral approaches. We show that our path integral measure is invariant under conformal transformations and field reparametrizations, in contrast to the measure used in the Fujikawa calculation, and we show the agreement, despite different origins, of the conformal anomaly in the two approaches. The natural energy–momentum in the Pauli–Villars approach is a true coordinate-invariant tensor quantity, and we discuss its nontrivial relationship to the corresponding nontensor object arising in the operator formalism, thus providing a novel explanation within a path integral context for the anomalous Ward identities of the latter. We provide a direct calculation of the nontrivial contact terms arising in expectation values of certain energy–momentum products, and we use these to perform a simple consistency check confirming the validity of the change of variables formula for the path integral. Finally, we review the relationship between the conformal anomaly and the energy–momentum two-point functions in our formalism.

We discuss a covariant functional integral approach to the quantization of the bosonic string. In contrast to approaches relying on noncovariant operator regularizations, interesting operators here are true tensor objects with classical transformation laws, even on target spaces where the theory has a Weyl anomaly. Since no implicit noncovariant gauge choices are involved in the definition of the operators, the anomaly is clearly separated from the issue of operator renormalization and can be understood in isolation, instead of infecting the latter as in other approaches. Our method is of wider applicability to covariant theories that are not Weyl invariant, but where covariant tensor operators are desired.

After constructing covariantly regularized vertex operators, we define a class of background-independent path integral measures suitable for string quantization. We show how gauge invariance of the path integral implies the usual physical state conditions in a very conceptually clean way. We then discuss the construction of the BRST action from first principles, obtaining some interesting caveats relating to its general covariance. In our approach, the expected BRST related anomalies are encoded somewhat differently from other approaches. We conclude with an unusual but amusing derivation of the value D = 26 of the critical dimension.