Mass operator and dynamical implementation of mass superselection rule

Applications of group representations to physics and other areas of science (20C35) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Selfadjoint operator theory in quantum theory, including spectral analysis (81Q10) Finite-dimensional groups and algebras motivated by physics and their representations (81R05)

Abstract: We start reviewing Giulini's dynamical approach to Bargmann superselection rule proposing some improvements. We discuss some general features of the central extensions of the Galileian group used in Giulini's programme, focussing on the interplay of classical and quantum picture, without making any particular choice for the multipliers. Preserving other features of Giulini's approach, we modify the mass operator of a Galilei invariant quantum system to obtain a mass spectrum that is positive and discrete, giving rise to a standard (non-continuous) superselection rule. The model is invariant under time reversal but a further degree of freedom appears, interpreted as an internal conserved charge. (However, adopting a POVM approach a positive mass operator arises without assuming the existence of such a charge.) The effectiveness of Bargmann rule is shown to be equivalent to an averaging procedure over the unobservable degrees of freedom of the central extension of Galileo group. Moreover, viewing the Galileian invariant quantum mechanics as a non-relativistic limit, we prove that the above-mentioned averaging procedure giving rise to Bargmann superselection rule is nothing but an effective de-coherence phenomenon due to time evolution if assuming that real measurements includes a temporal averaging procedure. It happens when the added term

M c^{2}

is taken in the due account in the Hamiltonian operator since, in the dynamical approach, the mass

M

is an operator and cannot be trivially neglected as in classical mechanics. The presented results are quite general and rely upon the only hypothesis that the mass operator has point-wise spectrum. These results explicitly show the interplay of the period of time of the averaging procedure, the energy content of the considered states, and the minimal difference of the mass operator eigenvalues.

Review text

As shown by Bargmann in 1954 Galileian invariance implies a superselection rule for the masses of a non-relativistic quantum mechanical system, i.e. a formal superposition of pure states with different mass values does not represent a pure state. In several papers, Giulini stressed that the usual Galileian interpretation of de-coherence effect does not allow any dynamical approach. Instead, he re-interpreted Bargmann's rule within another framework assuming a central extension of the Galileian group which provides an explicit mass operator. The present paper is organized as follows. After explaining the details of a specific Hamiltonian and the underlying Hilbert space, Giulini's approach is reviewed from a more mathematical point of view, thereby proposing some improvements of his framework. The mass operator is modified so as to obtain a positive discrete spectrum. The model remains to be invariant under time reversal. However, another degree of freedom arises describing a conserved internal charge. Everything here relies on the hypothesis that the mass operator has a discrete spectrum. This assumption guarantees the validity of the presented results. There does not seem to exist any general physical a-priori principle justifying this assumption.

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