8 - Quantization of fields

Summary

In this chapter we explain the procedure for quantizing classical fields, based on the preparatory work we did in the previous chapter. We have seen that classical fields can generally be treated as an (infinite) set of oscillator modes. In fact, for all fields we considered in the previous chapter, we were able to rewrite the Hamiltonian in a way such that it looked identical to the Hamiltonian for a generic (mechanical) oscillator, or a set of such oscillators. We therefore understand that, if we can find an unambiguous way to quantize the mechanical oscillator, we get the quantization of all classical fields for free!

We thus start considering the mechanical harmonic oscillator and refresh the quantum mechanics of this system. The new idea is to associate the oscillator with a level for bosonic particles representing the quantized excitations of the oscillator. We then turn to a concrete example and show how the idea can be used to quantize the deformation field of the elastic string discussed in Section 7.2. In this case, the bosonic particles describing the excitations of the field are called phonons: propagating wave-like deformations of the string. As a next example, we revisit the low-lying spinfull excitations in a ferromagnet, already described in Section 4.5.3. Here, we start from a classical field theory for the magnetization of the magnet, and show how the quantization procedure leads to the same bosonic magnons we found in Chapter 4. Finally, we implement the quantization technique for the electromagnetic field, leading us to the concept of photons – the quanta of the electromagnetic field.