Abstract We present an exact quantum observable analog of the weak equivalence principle for a ‘relativistic’ quantum particle. The quantum geodesic equations are obtained from Heisenberg equations of motion as an exact analog of a fully covariant classical Hamiltonian evolution picture, with the proper identification of the canonical momentum variables as p µ , rather than p µ . We discuss the meaning of the equations in relation to projective measurements as well as equations with solution curves as ones in the noncommutative geometric picture of spacetime, and a plausible approach to quantum gravity as a theory about quantum observables as physical quantities including the notion of quantum coordinate transformation.
Abstract We present an exact quantum observable analog of the weak equivalence principle for a ‘relativistic’ quantum particle. The quantum geodesic equations are obtained from Heisenberg equations of motion as an exact analog of a fully covariant classical Hamiltonian evolution picture, with the proper identification of the canonical momentum variables as p µ , rather than p µ . We discuss the meaning of the equations in relation to projective measurements as well as equations with solution curves as ones in the noncommutative geometric picture of spacetime, and a plausible approach to quantum gravity as a theory about quantum observables as physical quantities including the notion of quantum coordinate transformation.
Abstract Quantum reference frame as in the example of observing a quantum particle from another has been a topic of much recent interest. Quantum spatial translations, quantum rotations, and quantum Lorentz boosts in the sense have been studied to some extent. The article aims at using a consistent formulation of all that to give a full picture of what would be the symmetry of Special Quantum Relativity as special relativity as seen from quantum particles. We first look at a direct formulation of the mathematical quantum analog of any classical one-parameter Lie group of such transformations suggested by our Heisenberg picture thinking of quantum mechanics. A quantum rotation and a quantum Lorentz boost are presented. Analysis of the compositions of two such transformations shows unnatural results with various problems, especially with their commutators. From a physical point of view, we argue for a modified formulation. A quantum reference frame transformation, as the description of firstly the spacetime position of an object, idealized as a particle, as seen from another has to involve a full set of four-coordinate quantum quantities instead of one in a single coordinate only. Unlike the classical case, we illustrate that the analog of a change by the zero classical coordinate values has nontrivial effects in the transformation. A consistent full picture of the symmetry is then obtained. Results that could be interpreted essentially as the quantum analogs of the translation of a single coordinate observable, including angular ones for a rotation or a boost, can be retrieved from that but only as approximations. Under the traditional perspective of relativity symmetry being about spacetime reference frames, our task is then completed. We further look at the quantum version of Heisenberg–Weyl symmetry and perspectives on its relation with the subject matter and argue for the necessity of our background noncommutative geometric perspective for a conceptual consistent story.
In a recent work \cite{Shaikh:2026nsi}, it was shown that for a non-relativistic particle, the operator equations of motion can be cast in the same differential form as Newton's equation of motion. This establishes a correspondence between quantum operator dynamics and classical mechanics at the level of the equations of motion. In this work, we investigate whether this correspondence extends to quantum field theory and linearized gravity. We explicitly show that the Heisenberg equations of motion for quantum field operators reproduce the corresponding classical equations of motion for a broad class of field theories. The Klein-Gordon equation, Maxwell's equations, Yang-Mills equations, and linearized Einstein equations are shown to arise at the operator level without taking the limit ℏ→0. We then extend the analysis to curved spacetime and show that the quantum field operators satisfy the corresponding covariant field equations at the operator level. In the weak-field approximation, we show that the Heisenberg evolution of the metric-perturbations reproduces the linearized Einstein equations at the operator level. For a quantum particle in curved spacetime, the Heisenberg equations for position and momentum reproduce classical geodesic motion in the semiclassical limit, thereby extending the operator-level quantum-classical correspondence from fields to particle dynamics.
Key aspects of the manifestly-covariant theory of quantum gravity (Cremaschini and Tessarotto 2015–2017) are investigated. These refer, first, to the establishment of the four-scalar, manifestly-covariant evolution quantum wave equation, denoted as covariant quantum gravity (CQG) wave equation, which advances the quantum state ψ associated with a prescribed background space-time. In this paper, the CQG-wave equation is proved to follow at once by means of a Hamilton–Jacobi quantization of the classical variational tensor field g ≡ g μ ν and its conjugate momentum, referred to as (canonical) g-quantization. The same equation is also shown to be variational and to follow from a synchronous variational principle identified here with the quantum Hamilton variational principle. The corresponding quantum hydrodynamic equations are then obtained upon introducing the Madelung representation for ψ , which provides an equivalent statistical interpretation of the CQG-wave equation. Finally, the quantum state ψ is proven to fulfill generalized Heisenberg inequalities, relating the statistical measurement errors of quantum observables. These are shown to be represented in terms of the standard deviations of the metric tensor g ≡ g μ ν and its quantum conjugate momentum operator.
We present here what we consider a new picture of quantum mechanics with the position and momentum observables as coordinates of the usual quantum phase space of a single particle, which also serves as the model of the physical space. To minimize the mathematics involved, we stick here to the Hilbert space picture of the phase space. We argue that a quantum observable should be seen as taking noncommutative values each of which can equivalently be represented by an infinite number of real numbers. The six noncommutative values of the position and momentum observables hence serve as an alternative system of coordinates for the Hilbert space. The values can, at least in principle, be experimentally determined. This can be seen as a complete resolution of the Einstein–Bohr debate that Einstein would probably be happy with. What we have is a solid noncommutative geometrical picture of the physical space, or spacetime, beyond the Newtonian and Einsteinian framework that is sure to be relevant to Nature directly coupled with the idea that each physical quantity should better be seen as having a value beyond what can be represented by a number. We finish by sketching some implications of the results for the physics and mathematics of quantum spacetime in general.
With approaching quantum/noncommutative models for the deep microscopic spacetime in mind, and inspired by our recent picture of the (projective) Hilbert space as the model of physical space behind basic quantum mechanics, we reformulate here the WWGM formalism starting from the canonical coherent states and taking wavefunctions as expansion coefficients in terms of this basis. This provides us with a transparent and coherent story of simple quantum dynamics where both the wavefunctions for the pure states and operators acting on them arise from the single space/algebra, which exactly includes the WWGM observable algebra. Altogether, putting the emphasis on building our theory out of the underlying relativity symmetry -- the centrally extended Galilean symmetry in the case at hand -- allows one to naturally derive both a kinematical and a dynamical description of a quantum particle, which moreover recovers the corresponding classical picture (understood in terms of the Koopman-von Neumann formalism) in the appropriate (relativity symmetry contraction) limit. Our formulation here is the most natural framework directly connecting all of the relevant mathematical notions and we hope it may help a general physicist better visualize and appreciate the noncommutative-geometric perspective behind quantum physics. It also helps to inspire and illustrate our perspective on looking at quantum mechanics and quantum physics in general in direct connection to the notion of quantum (deformed) relativity symmetries and the corresponding quantum/noncommutative models of spacetime as various levels of approximations all the way down to the Newtonian.
This chapter explores the Schrödinger and Heisenberg pictures in quantum mechanics, emphasizing their mathematical equivalence and physical consistency. The two formulations are shown to be connected by a unitary transformation. The Heisenberg equation of motion is derived, and the time evolution of operators—particularly those not explicitly dependent on time—is expressed in terms of their initial values. It is demonstrated that scalar products, expectation values, matrix elements, and commutation relations remain invariant under the change of picture. Drawing a close analogy with classical mechanics, Dirac's insight is presented: the quantum mechanical counterpart of the classical Poisson bracket is the operator commutator divided by iℏ . The chapter concludes by deriving the Lorentz force law within the quantum framework using commutator algebra. Metadata/Keywords: Schrödinger picture, Heisenberg picture, unitary transformation, Heisenberg equation of motion, Poisson bracket, Lorentz force, time evolution, expectation values