Abstract

The Wigner distribution and its equation of motion in the scalar potential case are arrived at in an unusual way. This in turn suggests (a) a departure from the standard Wigner distribution treatment for a charged particle in a magnetic field and (b) a new approach to quantization of nonconservative systems. Suggestion (a) is found to be, like the standard treatment, in agreement with Schrödinger's equation but, unlike it, also satisfies local classical-type conservation laws and employs a distribution which is gauge-invariant rather than merely gauge-covariant. Suggestion (b) gives a clear result only in the case of resistance proportional to velocity, when it agrees with the Schrödinger-Langevin equation; for other dissipative systems a fresh assumption is required, and a proposal in that direction is put forward