Asymptotic Quantization of a Particle on a Sphere

Abstract

Quantum systems whose states are tightly distributed among several invariant subspaces (variable spin systems) can be described in terms of distributions in a four-dimensional phase-space T∗S2 in the limit of large average angular momentum. The cotangent bundle T∗S2 is also the classical manifold for systems with E(3) symmetry group with appropriately fixed Casimir operators. This allows us to employ the asymptotic form of the star-product proper for variable (integer) spin systems to develop a deformation quantization scheme for a particle moving on the two-dimensional sphere, whose observables are elements of e(3) algebra and the corresponding phase-space is T∗S2. We show that the standard commutation relations of the e(3) algebra are recovered from the corresponding classical Poisson brackets and the explicit expressions for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of some quantized classical observables (such as the angular momentum operators and their squares) are obtained.