When the Physics package is loaded, a more general product operator, represented by the same symbol *, is loaded. Unlike the default Maple * operator (herein called the commutative product operator), the * operator loaded with Physics does not assume commutativity of its operands and instead automatically operates like a commutative, anticommutative, or noncommutative product, depending on the corresponding commutation properties of its operands.

Similarly, a generalized exponentiation operator, ^, is loaded.

When computing with quantum-state vectors in Dirac notation, the Physics * operator also represents the tensor product of Bras and Kets, such as in  (a quantum operator) or  (a Ket of the tensor product of spaces).

To expand Physics[`*`] products over sums, use expand or Physics[Expand]; to represent their inverses, use Physics/Inverse. Additionally, the rules for differentiating these products with respect to commutative or anticommutative differentiation variables, as well as the function application of a product construction, , are all implemented, completing the computational representation of this generalized product operation.

To set the identifiers for noncommutative and anticommutative variables in the context of the Physics package, see Setup. Also, when using the Standard graphical user interface, you can set the mathematical display so that commutative, anticommutative, and noncommutative objects are displayed in different colors, which can also be customized. To set the display to mathematical notation, enter the command Setup(mathematicalnotation = true). See Setup for details.

In order to make zero recognition possible in the not commutative case, basic simplifications, unnesting, and sorting of arguments of these products are automatically performed. So the output of * will be equal to the output of * when a and/or b are commutative objects, and it will be equal to the output of * when a and b are anticommutative objects. If a and b are noncommutative, then for both * and *, the respective outputs are just the products as entered. The form automatically returned is  itself, built as follows:

The sequence of operands of  is split into two sequences: s1 and s2, containing the commutative and not commutative (anticommutative and noncommutative) operands, respectively.

The elements of s1 are sorted by using machine ordering (table(symmetric)), resulting in sorted_s1.

Each subsequence of anticommutative elements of s2 is sorted using machine ordering (table(antisymmetric)), resulting in sorted_s2.

Both sorted_s1 and sorted_s2 are normalized by using normal.

A result is built and returned as the normalized form of sorted_s1 times sorted_s2.

To simplify these products of noncommutative objects (such as quantum operators), taking into account that some of them may commute between themselves or satisfy commutation rules previously set, use the Physics/Simplify command.

In connection with applying a product to some arguments, as for instance in , to have any of  or  returned just as  or , declare them first as parameters by using the Parameters command. To have only the quantum operators (, , or both) applied to , use the `.` operator of the Physics package, as in.

After loading Physics, the original commutative product operator can still be invoked as the function :-, as in :-. However, note that it would be wrong to use :- product constructions involving noncommutative or anticommutative operands.

Remark: to compute the scalar product between Bras, Kets, and quantum operators defined as such by using the Setup command or returned by the Annihilation and Creation commands, use the `.` operator in the Physics package, not the * generalized multiplication operator described in this page.