International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics (02198878)21(12)
This paper aims to provide a consistent, finite-valued, and mathematically well-defined reformulation of Feynman's path-integral measure for quantum fields obtained by studying the Wiener stochastic process in the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of quantum states. This reformulation will undoubtedly have a crucial role in formulating quantum gravity within a mathematically well-defined framework. In fact, this study is fundamentally different from any previous research on the relationship between Feynman's path-integral and the Wiener stochastic process. In this research, we focus on the fact that the classic Wiener measure is no longer applicable in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces due to fundamental differences between displacements in low and extremely high dimensions. Thus, an analytic norm motivated by the role of the fractal functions in the Wilsonian renormalization approach is worked out to properly characterize Brownian motion in the Hilbert space of quantum states on a compact flat manifold. This norm, the so-called fractal norm, pushes the rougher functions (physically the quantum states with higher energies) to the farther points of the Hilbert space until the fractal functions as the roughest ones are moved to infinity. Implementing the Wiener stochastic process with the fractal norm, results in a modified form of the Wiener measure called the Wiener fractal measure, which is a well-defined measure for Feynman's path-integral formulation of quantum fields. Wiener fractal measure has a complicated formula of nonlocal terms but produces the Klein-Gordon action at the first order of approximation. Using complex integrals to compensate for the removal of non-local terms appearing in higher orders of approximation, the Wiener fractal measure turns into a complex measure and generates Feynman's path-integral formulation of scalar quantum fields. This brings us to the main objective of this study. Finally, some various significant aspects of quantum field theory (such as renormalizability, RG flow, Wick rotation, regularization, etc.) are revisited by means of the analytical aspects of the Wiener fractal measure. © 2024 World Scientific Publishing Company.
