Abstract. We show that the recently formulated equivalence principle (EP) implies a basic cocycle condition both in Euclidean and Minkowski spaces, which holds in any dimension. This condition, that in one dimension is sufficient to fix the Schwarzian equation, implies a fundamental higher-dimensional Möbius invariance which, in turn, unequivocally fixes the quantum version of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. This also holds in the relativistic case, so that we obtain both the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the Klein-Gordon equation in any dimension. We then show that the EP implies that masses are related by maps induced by the coordinate transformations connecting different physical systems. Furthermore, we show that the minimal coupling prescription, and therefore gauge invariance, arises quite naturally in implementing the EP. Finally, we show that there is an antisymmetric 2-tensor which underlies quantum mechanics and sheds new light on the nature of the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation.

PACS numbers: 0365, 0365B, 0365P, 0420

Print publication: Issue 19 (7 October 2000)
Received 17 February 2000, in final form 17 July 2000