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arXiv:1303.4367 · Physical Review A

Wigner rotations and an apparent paradox in relativistic quantum information

Pablo L. Saldanha, Vlatko Vedral

Published Apr 3, 2013• 14 citations
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Abstract

It is shown that a general model for particle detection in combination with a linear application of the Wigner rotations, which correspond to momentum-dependent changes of the particle spin under Lorentz transformations, to the state of a massive relativistic particle in a superposition of two counterpropagating momentum states leads to a paradox. The paradox entails the instantaneous transmission of information between two spatially separated parties. A solution to the paradox is given when the physical construction of the corresponding state is taken into account, suggesting that we cannot in general linearly apply the Wigner rotations to a quantum state without considering the appropriate physical interpretation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.042102

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Reply to Comment on "Wigner rotations and an apparent paradox in relativistic quantum information"

Pablo L. Saldanha, Vlatko Vedral

As Lanzagorta and Crowder have shown in their Comment [Phys. Rev. A 96, 026101 (2017)], the linear application of the Wigner rotations to the quantum state of two massive relativistic particles does not entail the instantaneous transmission of information as we concluded in our paper [Phys. Rev. A 87, 042102 (2013)]. But in the new version of our paper in arXiv [arXiv:1303.4367v2] we show (and solve) another paradox that is generated by the linear application of the Wigner rotations to a system with a single relativistic particle. So the conclusion of our paper that we cannot in general linearly apply the Wigner rotations to the quantum state of a relativistic particle without considering the appropriate physical interpretation is still valid, although the paradox presented in that paper is inappropriate.

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Comment on “Wigner rotations and an apparent paradox in relativistic quantum information”

Marco O. Lanzagorta, Tanner Crowder

We show that the paradox published by Saldanha and Vedral [Phys. Rev. A 87, 042102 (2013)] is based on an improper interpretation of the localization probability density and a miscalculation of the wave functions. This Comment shows that there is no paradox as stated.

Physical Review A•Aug 10, 2017•6 citations
It is shown that a general model for particle detection in combination with a linear application of the Wigner rotations, which correspond to momentum-dependent changes of the particle spin under Lorentz transformations, to the state of a massive relativistic particle in a superposition of two counterpropagating momentum states leads to a paradox. The paradox entails the instantaneous transmission of information between two spatially separated parties. A solution to the paradox is given when the physical construction of the corresponding state is taken into account, suggesting that we cannot in general linearly apply the Wigner rotations to a quantum state without considering the appropriate physical interpretation.
As Lanzagorta and Crowder have shown in their Comment [Phys. Rev. A 96, 026101 (2017)], the linear application of the Wigner rotations to the quantum state of two massive relativistic particles does not entail the instantaneous transmission of information as we concluded in our paper [Phys. Rev. A 87, 042102 (2013)]. But in the new version of our paper in arXiv [arXiv:1303.4367v2] we show (and solve) another paradox that is generated by the linear application of the Wigner rotations to a system with a single relativistic particle. So the conclusion of our paper that we cannot in general linearly apply the Wigner rotations to the quantum state of a relativistic particle without considering the appropriate physical interpretation is still valid, although the paradox presented in that paper is inappropriate.
Lorentz boosts applied to particles with spin and momentum degrees of freedom induce momentum-dependent rotations. As, in general, different particles have different momenta, the transformation of the whole state is not a representation of the rotation group. Here we identify the group that acts on a two-particle system and, for the case where the momenta of the particles are correlated, find invariant subspaces that have interesting properties for quantum information processes in relativistic scenarios. A basis of states for the study of transformations of spin states under Lorentz boosts is proposed, which is a good candidate for use in building quantum communication protocols in relativistic scenarios.
We describe the spin and momentum degrees of freedom of a system of two massive spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ particles as a four-qubit system. Then we explicitly show how the entanglement changes between different partitions of the qubits, when considered by different inertial observers. Although the two particle entanglement corresponding to a partition into Alice's and Bob's subsystems is, as often stated in the literature, invariant under Lorentz boosts, the entanglement with respect to other partitions of the Hilbert space on the other hand, is not. It certainly does depend on the chosen inertial frame and on the initial state considered. The change of entanglement arises, because a Lorentz boost on the momenta of the particles causes a Wigner rotation of the spin, which in certain cases entangles the spin with the momentum states. We systematically investigate the situation for different classes of initial spin states and different partitions of the four-qubit space. Furthermore, we study the behavior of Bell inequalities for different observers and demonstrate how the maximally possible degree of violation, using the Pauli-Lubanski spin observable, can be recovered by any inertial observer.
We examine the behaviour of the maximally entangled Bell state of two spin 1 massive particles under relativistic transformations. On the basis of explicit calculations of the Wigner rotation and the use of transformation properties of Dirac spinors, we establish that the constituent particles of the Bell state undergo momentum dependent rotation of the spin orientations characterized by the Wigner angle φW = tan −1 sinhsinh τ cosh � +cosh τ . However, since local unitarity is retained in the process, the corresponding entanglement fidelity is not lost. c
This paper was concerned with the spin-momentum correlation in single-particle quantum states, which is described by the mixed states under Lorentz transformations. For convenience, instead of using the superposition of momenta we use only two momentum eigen states (p1 and p2) that are perpendicular to the Lorentz boost direction. Consequently, in 2D momentum subspace we show that the entanglement of spin-momentum in the moving frame depends on the angle between them. Therefore, when spin and momentum are perpendicular the measure of entanglement is not observer-dependent quantity in inertial frame. Likewise, we have calculated the measure of entanglement (by using the concurrence) and has shown that entanglement decreases with respect to the increasing of observer velocity. Finally, we argue that, Wigner rotation is induced by Lorentz transformations can be realized as controlling operator.