Geometric phases in the asymptotic theory of coupled wave equations

Abstract

Traditional approaches to the asymptotic behavior of coupled wave equations have difficulties in the formulation of a consistent version of the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization conditions. These difficulties can be circumvented by using the Weyl calculus to diagonalize the matrix of wave operators. In analyzing the diagonalized wave equations, geometric phases enter in an important way, especially in the development of Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rules. It turns out that a version of Berry’s phase is incorporated into the symplectic structure in the ray phase space, influencing the classical Hamiltonian orbits, the construction of solutions to the Hamiltonian-Jacobi equation, and the computation of action integrals. Noncanonical coordinates in the ray phase space are useful in carrying out these calculations and in making the construction of eigenvalues and wave functions manifestly gauge invariant.