I'm now working on my Phd thesis on the area of deformation quantization and field theory. After doing all the "ground work" (definitions, motivations, basics of the theory etc) I have now to do some "dirty work" with many and many Moyal Products. So I have searched for some tools to make life easier. In particular I found this MO question with a nice comment by user @Comaszachos saying that we can "Bopp shift away". I look at the pdf linked in the comment and on page 27 we have a lemma stating:
f(x,p)∗g(x,p)=f(ˆx,ˆp)g(x,p)=f(x+ih2∂p,p−ih2∂x)g(x,p)
So I tried to apply this to some simple examples and that is what I found: take f(x,p)=g(x,p)=exep. Than
f(x,p)∗g(x,p)=ex+ih2∂pep−ih2∂xexep
as [x,ih2∂p]=[p,ih2∂x]=0, we have
f(x,p)∗g(x,p)=(exeih2∂pepe−ih2∂x)(exep)
using Lagrange's formula for the shift operator
f(x,p)∗g(x,p)=exeih2∂p(epex−ih2ep)=exep+ih2ex−ih2ep+ih2=e2x+2p+ih2
and this is wrong! We can see it by the fact that f∗g=fg+ih2{f,g}+O(h2)
and {exep,exep}=0, but
e2x+2p+ih2=e2x+2p+e2x+2pih2+O(h2)
As a comment, the exact correct answer is
f(x,p)∗g(x,p)=e2x+2p
where I used
f(x,p)∗g(x,p)=lim(x′,p′)→(x,p)eih2(∂x∂p′−∂x′∂p)f(x,p)g(x′,p′)
with the fact eih2(∂x∂p′−∂x′∂p)=eih2∂x∂p′e−ih2∂x′∂p and expanding and collecting terms.
My question is: Where is the error? How do I properly apply the Bop shift? Is there any restriction to use it?
This post imported from StackExchange MathOverflow at 2023-11-30 17:41 (UTC), posted by SE-user Diego Santos