Positron position operators. I: A natural option

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2022.168988zbMATH Open1500.81046arXiv2111.12304OpenAlexW3216118727WikidataQ114209488 ScholiaQ114209488MaRDI QIDQ2159290FDOQ2159290

Authors: Roderich Tumulka 

Publication date: 29 July 2022

Published in: Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: By ``position operators, I mean here a POVM (positive-operator-valued measure) on a suitable configuration space acting on a suitable Hilbert space that serves as defining the position observable of a quantum theory, and by ``positron position operators, I mean a joint treatment of positrons and electrons. I consider the standard free second-quantized Dirac field in Minkowski space-time or in a box. On the associated Fock space (i.e., the tensor product of the positron Fock space and the electron Fock space), there acts an obvious POVM P_obv, but I propose a different one that I call the natural POVM, P_nat. In fact, it is a PVM (projection-valued measure); it captures the sense of locality corresponding to the field operators Psi_s(x) and to the algebra of local observables. The existence of P_nat depends on a mathematical conjecture which at present I can neither prove nor disprove; here I explore consequences of the conjecture. I put up for consideration the possibility that P_nat, and not P_obv, is the physically correct position observable and defines the Born rule for the joint distribution of electron and positron positions. I describe properties of P_nat, including a strict no-superluminal-signaling property, and how it avoids the Hegerfeldt-Malament no-go theorem. I also point out how to define Bohmian trajectories that fit together with P_nat, and how to generalize P_nat to curved space-time.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.12304

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zbMATH Keywords

Born's ruleposition observableDirac seaDirac quantum fieldHegerfeldt-Malament theoremparticle configuration

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Bergman spaces and Fock spaces (30H20) Vector-valued measures and integration (46G10) Methods of global Riemannian geometry, including PDE methods; curvature restrictions (53C21) Spinor and twistor methods applied to problems in quantum theory (81R25) Relativistic cosmology (83F05) Hilbert and pre-Hilbert spaces: geometry and topology (including spaces with semidefinite inner product) (46C05) General theory of von Neumann algebras (46L10) Quantization in field theory; cohomological methods (81T70) Minkowski geometries in nonlinear incidence geometry (51B20) General position and transversality (57N75) Particle exchange symmetries in quantum theory (general) (81V72)

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Cited In (1)

• Position and quantum theory

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