Quantum Geometry: Problem set #1

Solution:
(1) It is easier to first compute the square of this integral, and subsequently switch to polar
coordinates. We have
Z sZ Z sZ Z
2
e−x dx = e−x2 dx e−y2 dy = e−(x2 +y2 ) dxdy.

Now we reparametrize

x = r cos θ, y = r sin θ
r ∈ [0, ∞), θ ∈ [0, 2π).

The integration measure changes accordingly:

dxdy = rdrdθ.

Therefore our integral can be rewritten as

s s
Z Z ∞ Z 2π Z ∞
−x2
e dx = re−r2 dθdr = 2π re−r2 dr.
0 0 0

Now make the substitution

u = r2 , du = 2rdr

so that the integral can be calculated straightforwardly:

Z Z
−r2 1 1
re dr = e−u du = − e−u + C
2 2
1 −r2
=− e + C.
2

We then find for the Gaussian integral that

s
∞
1 −r2 ∞
Z   
−x2
e dx = 2π · − e 
−∞ 2 0
√
= π.

(2) The simplest way of deriving this is by making a change of coordinates

r r
a a
y= x, dy = dx.
2 2

(3) We write the exponent in vector notation as

xi Aij xj = xT Ax, x ∈ R, A ∈ Symn×n (R) .

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 Quantum Geometry: Problem set #1

Now any real, symmetric matrix can be decomposed as

A = QΛQT ,

such that Λ is diagonal and Q is an orthonormal matrix, meaning that

Q−1 = QT , det Q = 1.

Therefore we have
xT Ax = xT QΛQT x,

so it is convenient to make the change of variables

y = QT x, dy = det QT dx = dx.

The exponent then simplifies considerably since Λ is diagonal. We have

xT Ax = y T Λy = λi yi2 ,

where the λi are the elements on the diagonal of Λ (and therefore, the eigenvalues of A). Our
integral can now be performed for all the yi separately. We see that
n
Z Y n
Z Y n r
− 21 xi Aij xj −
λi 2
y
Y 2π
dxi e = dyi e 2 i =
λi
i=1 i=1 i=1

by our result from part (2). Now note that

n
Y
λi = det Λ = det Q det Λ det QT = det QΛQT = det A,

i=1

which completes the proof.

(4) For notational convenience, we first switch to a complex integration measure. However, in
the end we can transform back and see that all the integrals are actually taken along the real
axis. Let zi = xi + iyi (do not confuse complex i and index i), which leads to the following
measure:
dzdz ∗ = −2idxdy.

We then write
n  n
n Y  n Z
Y 1 1
dxi dyi = dzi dzi∗ ≡ dn zdn z ∗ .
2i 2i
i=1 i=1

Now we use the fact that we can decompose a Hermitian matrix A as the product

A = QΛQ† ,

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 Quantum Geometry: Problem set #1

again with Λ diagonal, but now Q is a unitary matrix, meaning that

Q−1 = Q† , |det Q| = 1.

Again we make a change of variables

w = Q† z, dn wdn w∗ = det Q det Q† dn zdn z ∗ = dn zdn z ∗ ,

so that the integral takes the form

 n Z  n Z
1 ∗ − 21 w† Λw 1 λi 2
n n
d wd w e = dn wdn w∗ e− 2 |wi | .
2i 2i

We can now again decompose the variables in real and imaginary parts: wi = ai + ibi , after
which the integral can be rewritten as
n
Z Y
λi 2 2 1
dai dbi e− 2 (ai +bi ) = (2π)n ,
det A
i=1

where we used similar arguments as in part (3).

(5) Simply use the rules for differentiation:

 
∂ ∂ 1
S(x) = xj Ajk xk + bj xj
∂xi ∂xi 2
1
= (δij Ajk xk + xj Ajk δik ) + bj δij
2
= Aij xj + bi .

Equating this to zero results in the classical solution

xc = −A−1 b.

Making the expansion x = xc + ∆x, we now compute

1
S(xc + ∆x) = (xc + ∆x)T A(xc + ∆x) + bT (xc + ∆x)
2
1 1 1 1
= xTc Axc + bT xc + ∆xT A∆x + ∆xT Axc + xTc A∆x + bT ∆x
2 2 2 2
1 −1 1 T −1
= S(xc ) + S(∆x, b = 0) − ∆x AA b − b A A∆x + bT ∆x
T
2 2
= S(xc ) + S(∆x, b = 0) − ∆x · b + b · ∆x
= S(xc ) + S(∆x, b = 0).

Since xc is a constant vector, the transformed measure is equal to the original one:

dn ∆x = dn x.

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 Quantum Geometry: Problem set #1

As a result, we can pull e−S(xc ) out of the integral, giving

Z Z
n −S(x)
d xe = dn ∆xe−S(xc )−S(∆x,b=0)
Z Z
1 T
−S(xc ) −S(∆x,b=0) −S(xc )
=e n
d ∆xe =e dn ∆xe− 2 ∆x A∆x

(2π)n/2
= e−S(xc ) √ .
det A

(6) The main idea here is to complete the square in the exponent. We ignore the constant factors
for now, and compute the following integral:
Z
im 00 0 2 im 0 2
I(x , x) = dx0 e 2A (x −x ) e 2B (x −x)
00

Z
im 1 00 0 2 1 0 2
= dx0 e 2 ( A (x −x ) + B (x −x) ) . (1)

We now consider only the relevant part of the exponent and reorganize it so that we can
complete the square.
   00 
1 00
2 1 0
2 1 1 x x 1 1
x − x0 + x −x = + 02
x −2 + x0 + x002 + x2
A B A B A B A B
1
(A + B)x02 − 2(Bx00 + Ax)x0 + Bx002 + Ax2


=
AB
2(Bx00 + Ax) 0 Bx00 + Ax
 
A+B 02
= x − x +
AB A+B A+B
!
00 + Ax 2 00 + Ax 2 00 + Ax
   
A+B Bx Bx Bx
= x0 − − + .
AB A+B A+B A+B

Now we moved all dependence on x0 to a single term, so we can substitute

Bx00 + Ax
y = x0 − ,
A+B

which leaves the measure invariant: dy = dx0 . We pick up our calculation from the last step:
!
1 2(Bx00 + Ax) (A + B) − (Bx00 + Ax)2
= (A + B)y +
AB A+B
ABx00 + B 2 x00 + A2 x + ABx − B 2 x002 − A2 x2 − 2ABx00 x
 
1 2
= (A + B)y +
AB A+B
00
(A + B) 2 (x − x) 2
= y + .
AB A+B

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 Quantum Geometry: Problem set #1

Plugging this result into (1), we find that

Z
im
00 (x00 −x)2 im(A+B) 2
y
I(x , x) = e2(A+B) dye AB

s
2iπAB 2(A+B)
im
(x00 −x)2
= e .
m(A + B)

Multiplying this with the constant factors we ignored initially, we indeed find the desired
result.
The expression for
hxn+1 | Ôn+1 |x0 i

now follows by successively performing the integrals over the xi .

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