A new quantum operator for distance

DOI10.1142/S0217751X19500337MaRDI QIDQ4630425zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors

Publication date 26 March 2019

Published in International Journal of Modern Physics A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.10555

zbMATH Keywords

gravitationquantum mechanics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Relativistic dynamics for problems in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian mechanics (70H40) Quantum mechanics on special spaces: manifolds, fractals, graphs, lattices (81Q35) Gravitational interaction in quantum theory (81V17) Special relativity (83A05) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05)

Abstract: We introduce a new semi-relativistic quantum operator for the length of the worldline a particle traces out as it moves. In this article the operator is constructed in a heuristic way and some of its elementary properties are explored. The operator ends up depending in a very complicated way on the potential of the system it is to act on so as a proof of concept we use it to analyze the expected distance traveled by a free Gaussian wavepacket with some initial momentum. It is shown in this case that the distance such a particle travels becomes light-like as its mass vanishes and agrees with the classical result for macroscopic masses. This preliminary result has minor implications for the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) in quantum mechanics. In particular it shows that the logical relationship between two formulations of the WEP in classical mechanics extends to quantum mechanics. That our result is qualitatively consistent with the work of others emboldens us to start the task of evaluating the new operator in non-zero potentials. However, we readily acknowledge that the looseness in the definition of our operator means that all of our so-called results are highly speculative. Plans for future work with the new operator are discussed in the last section.

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Cited in

(2)

• Trace distance from the viewpoint of quantum operation techniques
• Experimentally feasible measures of distance between quantum operations

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