nLab Wigner function

Contents

Idea

The usual quantum mechanics based on Schrödinger picture wave functions can be reformulated using a different distribution which behaves in some aspects more like a probability distribution, except that it is negative for some points in phase space.

Literature

The original article:

  • Eugene P. Wigner: On the quantum correction for thermodynamic equilibrium, Phys. Rev. 40 5 (1932) 749–759

See also:

  • Wikipedia: Wigner quasiprobability distribution

  • C. Zachos, D. Fairlie, T. Curtright, Quantum mechanics in phase space: an overview with selected papers, World Sci. 2005.

  • Giuseppe Dito, Francisco J. Turrubiates, The damped harmonic oscillator in deformation quantization, Physics Letters A352:4–5 (2006) 309–316 doi

  • B. Belchev, M.A. Walton, On Wigner functions and a damped star product in dissipative phase-space quantum mechanics, Annals of Physics 324 (2009) 670–681

  • B Molnár, M G Benedict, J Bertrand, Coherent states and the role of the affine group in the quantum mechanics of the Morse potential, J. Phys. A34, N.14 doi

category: physics

Last revised on August 23, 2026 at 10:18:02. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.