The quantum convolution product

Abstract In classical statistical mechanics, physical states (probability measures) are embedded in the Banach algebra of complex Borel measures on phase space, where the algebra product is realized by convolution. Convolution is state-preserving; namely, the convolution of two classical states is a state too. This is a special case of the convolution algebra of all complex measures on a locally compact group. A natural problem is whether an analogous structure may emerge in the quantum setting. By resorting to a group-theoretical construction, a quantum counterpart of the convolution of probability measures — the twirled product, or quantum convolution — can be introduced, yielding a group-covariant, associative binary operation on the states of a quantum system, that preserves the convex structure of this set. The analogy with the classical setting becomes striking in the case where the symmetry group is abelian. We focus, in particular, on the quantum convolution product stemming from the group of phase-space translations.