We present a spacetime setting for non-relativistic quantum mechanics that deflates "quantum mysteries" and relates non-relativistic quantum mechanics to special relativity. This is achieved by assuming spacetime symmetries are fundamental in a blockworld setting, i.e., by interpreting spacetime relations as fundamental to relata. To justify this Relational Blockworld (RBW), we adopt a result due to G. Kaiser whereby the relativity of simultaneity, stemming from the Poincare algebra of special relativity, is responsible for the canonical commutation relations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. And, we incorporate a result due to A. Bohr, B. Mottelson and O. Ulfbeck whereby the density matrix for a given experimental situation is obtained from its spacetime symmetry group. We provide an example to illustrate the explanatory nature of RBW and conclude by explaining how RBW deflates "quantum mysteries."
We present a perspective that can resolve most of the tensions between non-relativistic quantum mechanics (QM) and special relativity while deflating "quantum mysteries." All of this is achieved using spacetime symmetries as fundamental in a blockworld setting, i.e., by interpreting spacetime relations as fundamental to relata. To justify this "Relational Blockworld" (RBW), we adopt a result due to G. Kaiser whereby the relativity of simultaneity, stemming from the Poincare algebra, is responsible for the canonical commutation relations of QM. And, we incorporate a result due to A. Bohr, B. Mottelson and O. Ulfbeck whereby the density matrix for a given experimental situation is obtained from its spacetime symmetry group. We provide an example to illustrate the explanatory nature of RBW and conclude by showing how RBW deflates "quantum mysteries" on geometric grounds.
Advances in the study of relativistic quantum phase space have established the set of Linear Canonical Transformations (LCTs) as a candidate for the fundamental symmetry group associated with relativistic quantum physics. In this framework, for a spacetime of signature
(N+,N−), the symmetry of the relativistic quantum phase space is described by the LCT group, isomorphic to the symplectic Lie group
Sp(2N+,2N−), which preserves the canonical commutation relations (CCRs) and treats spacetime coordinates and momenta operators on an equal footing. In this work, we investigate the contraction structure of the Lie algebra associated with the LCT group for signature
(1,4), clarifying how familiar spacetime symmetry groups emerge from this more fundamental quantum phase space symmetry. Using the Inönü-Wigner group contraction formalism, we examine each limit case corresponding to the possible combinations of asymptotic values of two fundamental length scale parameters associated with the theory, namely a minimum length
ℓ and a maximum length
L, which may be identified respectively with the Planck length and the de Sitter radius. We explicitly analyze how contractions of the LCT Lie algebra lead to the physically relevant de Sitter algebra
so(1,4) and, in the flat-curvature limit, to the Poincaré algebra
iso(1,3) of four-dimensional spacetime. This provides an explicit mechanism through which relativistic spacetime symmetry can emerge from a deeper symplectic structure of quantum phase space.