[Physics] Heisenberg equation of motion

hamiltonianquantum mechanicstime evolution

In the Heisenberg picture (using natural dimensions):
$$
O_H = e^{iHt}O_se^{-iHt}. \tag{1}
$$
If the Hamiltonian is independent of time then we can take a partial derivative of both sides with respect to time:
$$
\partial_t{O_H} = iHe^{iHt}O_se^{-iHt}+e^{iHt}\partial_tO_se^{-iHt}-e^{iHt}O_siHe^{-iHt}. \tag{2}
$$
Therefore,
$$
\partial_t{O_H} = i[H,O_H]+(\partial_tO_s)_H \, , \tag{3}
$$
but this is not equivalent to what many textbooks list as the Heisenberg equation of motion. Instead they state that
$$
\frac{d}{dt}{O_H} = i[H,O_H]+(\partial_tO_s)_H. \tag{4}
$$
Why, in general, is this true and not the former statement? Am I just being pedantic with my use of partial and total derivatives?

Best Answer

With some definitions to make time dependences explicit, your equation (4) can be made sense of. Let's take the following:

Let $O_s$ be an operator depending on time and other parameters $O_s:\mathbb{R}\times S\rightarrow \mathrm{Op}$, where $S$ is the space of the other parameters and $\mathrm{Op}$ is the space of operators on the Hilbert space. Let $\phi:\mathbb{R}\times\mathrm{Op}\rightarrow\mathrm{Op}$ denote time evolution of operators in the Heisenberg picture, given by $\phi_t(O)=e^{iHt}Oe^{-iHt}$.

Note that $(\partial_t \phi)_t(O)=i[H,\phi_t(O)]$ and $\partial_O\phi=\phi$ (because $\phi$ is linear in $O$). Now, given a parameter $p\in S$ we can define the function of time: $O_H:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathrm{Op}$ with $O_H(t)=\phi_t(O_s(t,p))$. Our function $O_H$ is a one-parameter one, so it only makes sense to take its total derivative: \begin{align} \frac{dO_H}{dt}(t)=&(\partial_t\phi)_t(O_s(t,p))+(\partial_O\phi)_t\left[(\partial_tO_s)(t,p)\right]\\ =& i[H,\phi_t(O_s(t,p))]+\phi_t\left[(\partial_tO_s)(t,p)\right]\\=& i[H,O_H(t)]+e^{iHt}(\partial_tO_s)(t,p)e^{-iHt}, \end{align}

where in the first step I have applied the chain rule and in the others, the equalities we already had.