The Quantum Hamilton–Jacobi Equation and the Link Between Classical and Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

We study how the classical Hamilton's principal and characteristic functions are generated from the solutions of the quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation. While in the classically forbidden regions these quantum quantities directly tend to the classical ones, this is not the case in the allowed regions. There, the limit is reached only if the quantum fluctuations are eliminated by means of coarse-graining averages. Analogously, the classical Hamilton–Jacobi scheme bringing to the motion's equations arises from a similar formal quantum procedure.

Quanta 2022; 11: 42–52.