LANDAU LEVELS AND GEOMETRIC QUANTIZATION

Abstract

The geometrical approach to phase-space quantization introduced by Klauder [KQ] is interpreted in terms of a universal magnetic field acting on a free particle moving in a higher dimensional configuration space; quantization corresponds to freezing the particle to its first Landau level. The Geometric Quantization [GQ] scheme appears as the natural technique to define the interaction with the magnetic field for a particle on a general Riemannian manifold. The freedom of redefining the operators' ordering makes it possible to select that particular definition of the Hamiltonian which is adapted to a specific polarization; in this way the first Landau level acquires the expected degeneracy. This unification with GQ makes it clear how algebraic relations between classical observables are or are not preserved under quantization. From this point of view all quantum systems appear as the low energy sector of a generalized theory in which all classical observables have a uniquely assigned quantum counterpart such that Poisson bracket relations are isomorphic to the commutation relations.