Abstract:
Feynman's method for disentangling noncommuting operators is discussed and applied to nonstationary problems in quantum mechanics, including the excitation of à harmonic oscillator by an external force and/or bó time-varying frequency; spin rotation in à time-varying magnetic field; the disentangling of àn atom (ion) Hamiltonian in à laser field; à model with the hidden symmetry group of the hydrogen atom; and the theory of coherent states. The Feynman operator calculus combined with simple group-theoretical considerations allows disentangling the Hamiltonian and obtaining exact transition probabilities between the initial and final states of à quantum oscillator in analytic form without cumbersome calculations. The case of à D-dimensional oscillator is briefly discussed, in particular, in application to the problem of vacuum pair creation in an intense electric field.