Complex probabilities on R(N) as real probabilities on C(N) and an application to path integrals.
We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for averages over complex-valued weight functions on R(N) to be represented as statistical averages over real, non-negative probability weights on C(N). Using this result, we show that many path integrals for time-ordered expectation values of bosonic degrees of freedom in real-valued time can be expressed as statistical averages over ensembles of paths with complex-valued coordinates, and then speculate on possible consequences of this result for the relation between quantum and classical mechanics.
Weingarten
Don
D
IBM Research, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA.