nLab Haag's theorem

Contents

Context

Quantum field theory

AQFT

algebraic quantum field theory (perturbative, on curved spacetimes, homotopical)

Introduction

Concepts

field theory:

Lagrangian field theory

quantization

quantum mechanical system, quantum probability

free field quantization

gauge theories

interacting field quantization

renormalization

Theorems

States and observables

Operator algebra

Local QFT

Perturbative QFT

Physics

physics, mathematical physics, philosophy of physics

Surveys, textbooks and lecture notes


theory (physics), model (physics)

experiment, measurement, computable physics

Contents

Idea

Haag’s theorem [Haag (1955), Hall & Whightman (1957)] says that for a non-finite number of generators the canonical commutation relations do not have a unique (up to isomorphism) irreducible unitary representation.

This is in contrast to the Stone-von Neumann theorem which says that for a finite number of generators the Schrödinger representation is, up to isomorphism, the unique irrducible unitary representation of the canonical commutation relations.

While canonical commutation relations with a finite number of generators appear in quantum mechanics, those appearing in quantum field theory (see e.g. Wick algebras for free fields) generically have infinitely many generators and hence are subject to Haag’s theorem.

More pertinently, the theorem goes on to say that, therefore, the interaction picture in interacting quantum field theory does not behave as in quantum mechanics…

References

Haag’s theorem was first stated in

  • Rudolf Haag, On quantum field theories, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Matematisk-fysiske Meddelelser 29 12 (1955) 1-37 [cds:212242, pdf]

but the proof had some gaps. It was completed in

  • D. Hall, Arthur Wightman A theorem on invariant analytic functions with applications to relativistic quantum field theory, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Matematisk-fysiske Meddelelser 31 5 (1957) 1-41 [pdf]

A brief statement in context is in

A thorough discussion of meaning and implications of Haag’s theorem (pointing out plenty of flaws on this point in the standard literature) is in

  • John Earman, Doreer Fraser, Haag’s theorem and its implications for the foundations of quantum field theory (pdf)

Textbook account in a context of non-perturbative quantum field theory:

See also

Last revised on December 21, 2022 at 16:49:12. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.