Heisenberg group Heisenberg group In mathematics, the Heisenberg group formula_1, named after Werner Heisenberg, is the group of 3×3 upper triangular matrices of the form under the operation of matrix multiplication. Elements "a, b" and "c" can be taken from any commutative ring with identity, often taken to be the ring of real numbers (resulting in the "continuous Heisenberg group") or the ring of integers (resulting in the "discrete Heisenberg group"). The continuous Heisenberg group arises in the description of one-dimensional quantum mechanical systems, especially in the context of the Stone–von Neumann theorem. More generally, one can consider Heisenberg groups associated to
Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian In physics, the Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian describes the non-linear dynamics of electromagnetic fields in vacuum. It was first obtained by Werner Heisenberg and Hans Heinrich Euler in 1936. By treating the vacuum as a medium, it predicts rates of quantum electrodynamics (QED) light interaction processes. It takes into account vacuum polarization to one loop, and is valid for electromagnetic fields that change slowly compared to the inverse electron mass: Here m is the electron mass, e the electron charge, formula_2, and formula_3. In the weak field limit, this becomes: formula_4 It describes photon-photon scattering in QED; Robert Karplus and