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American Journal of Applied Mathematics

Heisenberg Form of Uncertainty Relations

Mohammed Yousif

Published Jan 1, 2015• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper, deals with the uncertainty relation for photons. In [Phys.Rev.Let.108, 140401 (2012)], and [1] the uncertainty relation was obtained as a sharp inequality by using the energy distribution on space. The relation we obtain here is an alternative to the one given in [Phys.Rev.Let.108, 140401 (2012)] by the use of the position of the center of the energy operator. The fact that the components of the center is non commutative affected the right hand side of the Heisenberg inequality. But this resolved by the increase of the photon energy. Furthermore we study the uncertainty of Heisenberg with respect to angular momentum and Foureir. We end the paper by giving some examples.

DOI
10.11648/j.ajam.20150306.22

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This paper, deals with the uncertainty relation for photons. In [Phys.Rev.Let.108, 140401 (2012)], and [1] the uncertainty relation was obtained as a sharp inequality by using the energy distribution on space. The relation we obtain here is an alternative to the one given in [Phys.Rev.Let.108, 140401 (2012)] by the use of the position of the center of the energy operator. The fact that the components of the center is non commutative affected the right hand side of the Heisenberg inequality. But this resolved by the increase of the photon energy. Furthermore we study the uncertainty of Heisenberg with respect to angular momentum and Foureir. We end the paper by giving some examples.
The idea to base the uncertainty relation for photons on the electromagnetic energy distribution in space enabled us to derive a sharp inequality that expresses the uncertainty relation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 140401 (2012)]. An alternative version of the uncertainty relation derived in this paper is closer in spirit to the original Heisenberg relation because it employs the analog of the position operator for the photon---the center of the energy operator. The noncommutativity of the components of the center of the energy operator results in the increase of the bound $3\ensuremath{\hbar}/2$ in the standard Heisenberg uncertainty relation in three dimensions. This difference diminishes with the increase of the photon energy. In the infinite-momentum frame, the lower bound in the Heisenberg uncertainty relations for photons is the same as in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. A similar uncertainty relation is also derived for coherent photon beams. This relation has direct experimental consequences since it gives a precise relationship between the spectral composition of the laser beam and the minimal focal volume.
The uncertainty relation for the photons in three dimensions that overcomes the difficulties caused by the nonexistence of the photon position operator is derived in quantum electrodynamics. The photon energy density plays the role of the probability density in configuration space. It is shown that the measure of the spatial extension based on the energy distribution in space leads to an inequality that is a natural counterpart of the standard Heisenberg relation. The equation satisfied by the photon wave function in momentum space which saturates the uncertainty relations has the form of the Schrödinger equation in coordinate space in the presence of electric and magnetic charges.
This work completes the program started by I. Bialynicki-Birula and Z. Bialynicka-Birula [Uncertainty relation for photons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 140401 (2012); Heisenberg uncertainty relation for photons, Phys. Rev. A 86, 022118 (2012); Heisenberg uncertainty relation for relativistic electrons, New J. Phys. 21, 073036 (2019)] to derive the Heisenberg uncertainty relation for relativistic particles. Sharp uncertainty relations for massive relativistic particles with spin 0 and spin 1 are derived. The main conclusion is that the uncertainty relations for relativistic bosons are markedly different from those for relativistic fermions. The uncertainty relations for bosons are based on the energy density. It is shown that the uncertainty relations based on the time component of the four-current, as we have done previously for electrons, are untenable because they lead to contradictions.
Heisenberg guessed, after he established the matrix quantum mechanics, that the non-commutativity of the matrices of position and momentum implied that the position and momentum of a particle could not be precisely simultaneously determined. He consequently conjectured that time and energy should also have a similar relationship. Soon after, Robertson derived an inequality concerning the space coordinate and momentum, which was thought to be the mathematical expression of the uncertainty relation guessed by Heisenberg. Since then, people have tried various devices to prove the correctness of these two relations. However, no one conducted a careful analysis of Heisenberg’s primary paper. In this work, we point out some serious problems in Heisenberg’s paper and the literature talking about the uncertainty relationships: the physical concepts involved in the uncertainty relations are not clear; one physical concept had more than one explanation, i.e., switching concepts; there has never been measurement experiment to support the relations. The conclusions are that the so-called coordinate–momentum uncertainty relation has never been related to actual measurement and there does not exist a time–energy uncertainty relation.
The Heisenberg inequality ΔX ΔP \geq \hbar/2 can be replaced by an exact equality, for suitably chosen measures of position and momentum uncertainty, which is valid for all wavefunctions. The significance of this "exact" uncertainty relation is discussed, and results are generalised to angular momentum and phase, photon number and phase, time and frequency, and to states described by density operators. Connections to optimal estimation of an observable from the measurement of a second observable, Wigner functions, energy bounds, and entanglement are also given.
The proof of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation is modified to produce two improvements: (a) The resulting inequality is stronger because it includes the covariance between the two observables, and (b) the proof lifts certain restrictions on the state to which the relation is applied, increasing its generality. The restrictions necessary for the standard inequality to apply are not widely known, and they are discussed in detail. The classical analog of the Heisenberg relation is also derived, and the two are compared. Finally, the modified relation is used to address the apparent paradox that eigenfunctions of the z component of angular momentum Lz do not satisfy the φ–Lz Heisenberg relation; the resolution is that the restrictions mentioned above make the usual inequality inapplicable to these states. The modified relation does apply, however, and it is shown to be consistent with explicit calculations.