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Journal of Physics Conference Series

On relativistic quantum mechanics in the rest-frame instant form of dynamics

Luca Lusanna

Published Apr 22, 2013• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A review is given of a new relativistic classical mechanics for N-particle systems compatible with relativistic bound states. It is formulated in global non-inertial frames in Minkowski space-time by means of parametrized Minkowski theories and then restricted to the intrinsic inertial rest frame of the isolated system. There is a complete control on the relativistic collective variables (Newton-Wigner center of mass, Fokker-Pryce center of inertia, M/oller center of energy) and on the realization of the Poincare' algebra (with the explicit form of the interaction-dependent Lorentz boosts). The particle world-lines are found to correspond to the ones of predictive mechanics and localization problems are clarified. The model can be consistently quantized avoiding the instantaneous spreading of the center-of-mass wave packets (Hegerfeldt theorem), because the non-local non-covariant center of mass is a non-measurable quantity. This implies that the Hilbert space must be the tensor product of the center-of-mass Hilbert space with the one of relative motions. This spatial non-separability (due to the Lorentz signature of space-time) makes relativistic entanglement much more involved than the non-relativistic one.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/437/1/012015

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A review is given of a new relativistic classical mechanics for N-particle systems compatible with relativistic bound states. It is formulated in global non-inertial frames in Minkowski space-time by means of parametrized Minkowski theories and then restricted to the intrinsic inertial rest frame of the isolated system. There is a complete control on the relativistic collective variables (Newton-Wigner center of mass, Fokker-Pryce center of inertia, M/oller center of energy) and on the realization of the Poincare' algebra (with the explicit form of the interaction-dependent Lorentz boosts). The particle world-lines are found to correspond to the ones of predictive mechanics and localization problems are clarified. The model can be consistently quantized avoiding the instantaneous spreading of the center-of-mass wave packets (Hegerfeldt theorem), because the non-local non-covariant center of mass is a non-measurable quantity. This implies that the Hilbert space must be the tensor product of the center-of-mass Hilbert space with the one of relative motions. This spatial non-separability (due to the Lorentz signature of space-time) makes relativistic entanglement much more involved than the non-relativistic one.
A new formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics is proposed in the framework of the rest-frame instant form of dynamics, where the world-lines of the particles are parametrized in terms of the Fokker-Pryce center of inertia and of Wigner-covariant relative 3-coordinates inside the instantaneous Wigner 3-spaces, and where there is a decoupled (non-covariant and non-local) canonical relativistic center of mass. This approach: (a) allows us to make a consistent quantization in every inertial frame; (b) leads to a description of both bound and scattering states; (c) offers new insights on the relativistic localization problem; (d) leads to a non-relativistic limit with a Hamilton-Jacobi treatment of the Newton center of mass; (e) clarifies non-local aspects (spatial non-separability) of relativistic entanglement connected with Lorentz signature and not present in its non-relativistic treatment.
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.
Given an isolated system of either free or interacting particles and the associated realization of the ten conserved Poincaré generators its total conserved time-like 4-momentum defines its inertial rest-frame as the 3+1 splitting whose space-like 3-spaces (named Wigner 3-spaces) are orthogonal to it and whose inertial observer is the Fokker–Pryce 4-center of inertia. There is a discussion of the problem of the relativistic center of mass based on the fact that the 4-center functions “only” of the Poincaré generators of the isolated system are the following three non-local quantities: the non-canonical covariant Fokker–Pryce 4-center of inertia, the canonical non-covariant Newton–Wigner 4-center of mass and the non-canonical non-covariant Mőller 4-center of energy. At the Hamiltonian level one is able to express the canonical world-lines of the particles and their momenta in terms of the Jacobi variables of the external Newton–Wigner center of mass (a non-local non-covariant non-measurable quantity) and of Wigner-covariant relative 3-coordinates and 3-momenta inside the Wigner 3-spaces. This solves the problem of the elimination of relative times in relativistic bound states and to formulate a consistent Wigner-covariant relativistic quantum mechanics of point particles. The non-relativistic limit gives the Hamilton–Jacobi description of the system after the separation of Newtonian center of mass. Finally there is the definition of the non-inertial rest-frames whose 3-spaces are orthogonal to the total 4-momentum of the isolated system at spatial infinity.
We make a critical comparison of relativistic and nonrelativistic classical and quantum mechanics of particles in inertial frames as well of the open problems in particle localization at both levels. The solution of the problems of the relativistic center-of-mass, of the clock synchronization convention needed to define relativistic 3-spaces and of the elimination of the relative times in the relativistic bound states leads to a description with a decoupled nonlocal (nonmeasurable) relativistic center-of-mass and with only relative variables for the particles (single particle subsystems do not exist). We analyze the implications for entanglement of this relativistic spatial nonseparability not existing in nonrelativistic entanglement. Then, we try to reconcile the two visions showing that also at the nonrelativistic level in real experiments only relative variables are measured with their directions determined by the effective mean classical trajectories of particle beams present in the experiment. The existing results about the nonrelativistic and relativistic localization of particles and atoms support the view that detectors only identify effective particles following this type of trajectories: these objects are the phenomenological emergent aspect of the notion of particle defined by means of the Fock spaces of quantum field theory.
The non-relativistic version of the multi-temporal quantization scheme of relativistic particles in a family of non-inertial frames (see hep-th/0502194) is defined. At the classical level the description of a family of non-rigid non-inertial frames, containing the standard rigidly linear accelereted and rotating ones, is given in the framework of parametrized Galilei theories. Then the multi-temporal quantization, in which the gauge variables, describing the non-inertial effects, are not quantized but considered as c-number generalized times, is applied to non relativistic particles. It is shown that with a suitable ordering there is unitary evolution in all times and that, after the separation of center of mass, it is still possible to identify the inertial bound states. The few existing results of quantization in rigid non-inertial frames are recovered as special cases.
After a review of the few attempts to define quantum mechanics in noninertial frames, we introduce a family of relativistic nonrigid noninertial frames (equal-time parallel hyper-planes with differentially rotating 3-coordinates) as a gauge fixing of the description of N positive energy particles in the framework of parametrized Minkowski theories. Then we define a multitemporal quantization scheme in which the particles are quantized, but not the gauge variables describing the noninertial frames: they are considered as c-number generalized times. We study the coupled Schrödinger-like equations produced by the first class constraints and we show that there is a physical scalar product independent both from time and generalized times and a unitary evolution. Since a path in the space of the generalized times defines a nonrigid noninertial frame, we can find the associated self-adjoint effective Hamiltonian [Formula: see text] for the noninertial evolution: it differs from the inertial energy operator for the presence of inertial potentials and turns out to be frame-dependent like the energy density in general relativity. After a separation of the relativistic center of mass from the relative variables by means of a recently developed relativistic kinematics, inside [Formula: see text] we can identify the self-adjoint relative energy operator (the invariant mass) [Formula: see text] corresponding to the inertial energy and producing the same levels for the spectra of atoms as in inertial frames. Instead the (in general time-dependent) effective Hamiltonian is responsible for the interferometric effects signaling the noninertiality of the frame. It cannot be interpreted as an energy (there is no relativity principle and no kinematic group in noninertial frames) and generically, like in the case of time-dependent c-number external electromagnetic fields, it has no associated eigenvalue equation defining a noninertial spectrum. This formulation should help to find relativistic Bel inequalities and to define a quantization scheme for canonical gravity after having found a ultraviolet regularization of the Tomonaga–Schwinger formalism in special relativity as required by the Torre–Varadarajan no-go theorem.