Abstract
Conventional quantum mechanics is described in terms of complex numbers. However, all physical quantities are real. This indicates that the appearance of complex numbers in quantum mechanics may be the emergent phenomenon; i.e., complex numbers appear in the low energy description of the underlined high energy theory. We suggest a possible explanation of how this may occur. Namely, we consider the system of multicomponent Majorana fermions. There is a natural description of this system in terms of real numbers only. In the vicinity of the topologically protected Fermi point this system is described by the effective low energy theory with Weyl fermions. These Weyl fermions interact with the emergent gauge field and the emergent gravitational field.
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Volovik, G.E., Zubkov, M.A. Emergent Weyl fermions and the origin of i = \(\sqrt { - 1} \) in quantum mechanics. Jetp Lett. 99, 481–486 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0021364014080141
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0021364014080141