Quantum Mechanics in Riemannian Space: Different Approaches to Quantization of the Geodesic Motion Compared

We compare different approaches to the construction of the quantum mechanics of a particle in the general Riemannian space and space-time via quantization of motion along geodesic lines. We briefly review different quantization formalisms and the difficulties arising in their application to geodesic motion in a Riemannian configuration space. We then consider canonical, semiclassical (Pauli–De Witt), and Feynman (path-integral) formalisms in more detail and compare the quantum Hamiltonians of a particle arising in these models in the case of a static, topological elementary Riemannian configuration space. This allows selecting a unique ordering rule for the coordinate and momentum operators in the canonical formalism and a unique definition of the path integral that eliminates a part of the arbitrariness involved in the construction of the quantum mechanics of a particle in the Riemannian space. We also propose a geometric explanation of another main problem in quantization, the noninvariance of the quantum Hamiltonian and the path integral under configuration space diffeomorphisms.