Locality in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

D. R. E. Timson

Paweł Caban, Jakub Rembieliński

Luca Lusanna

After a review of the problems induced by the Lorentz signature of Minkowski space-time, like the need of a clock synchronization convention for the definition of 3-space and the complexity of the notion of relativistic center of mass, there is the introduction of a new formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics compatible with the theory of relativistic bound states. In it the zeroth postulate of non-relativistic quantum mechanics is not valid and the physics is described in the rest frame by a Hilbert space containing only relative variables. The non-locality of the Poincare' generators imply a kinematical non-locality and non-separability influencing the theory of relativistic entanglement and not connected with the standard quantum non-locality.

Gábor Cśanyi

Ed Seidewitz

This note is an addendum to quant-ph/0507115. In that paper, I present a formalism for relativistic quantum mechanics in which the spacetime paths of particles are considered fundamental, reproducing the standard results of the traditional formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Now, it is well known that there are issues with the ability to localize the position of particles in the usual formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics. The present note shows how, in the spacetime path formalism, the natural representation of on-shell 3-momentum states is effectively a Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation of the traditional representation, addressing the localization issues of position states and, further, providing a straightforward non-relativistic limit.

J. Fernando Perez, Ivan F. Wilde

It is shown that in relativistic quantum mechanics there is no criterion for the strict localization of a state in a bounded space-time region compatible with causality, translation covariance, and the spectral condition (or positivity of energy together with Lorentz covariance).