A simultaneous description of the dynamics of multiple particles requires a configuration space approach with an external time parameter. This is in stark contrast with the relativistic paradigm, where time is but a coordinate chosen by an observer. Here we show, however, that the two attitudes toward modelling $N$-particle dynamics can be conciliated within a generally covariant framework. To this end we construct an '$N$-particle configuration spacetime' $\mathcal{M}_{\scriptscriptstyle (N)}$, starting from a globally hyperbolic spacetime $\mathcal{M}$ with a chosen smooth splitting into time and space components. The dynamics of multi-particle systems is modelled at the level of Borel probability measures over $\mathcal{M}_{\scriptscriptstyle (N)}$ with the help of the global time parameter. We prove that with any time-evolution of measures, which respects the $N$-particle causal structure of $\mathcal{M}_{\scriptscriptstyle (N)}$, one can associate a single measure on the Polish space of '$N$-particle wordlines'. The latter is a splitting-independent object, from which one can extract the evolution of measures for any other global observer on $\mathcal{M}$. An additional asset of the adopted measure-theoretic framework is the possibility to model the dynamics of indistinguishable entities, such as quantum particles. As an application we show that the multi-photon and multi-fermion Schrödinger equations, although explicitly dependent on the choice of an external time-parameter, are in fact fully compatible with the causal structure of the Minkowski spacetime.
We provide general guidelines for generalizing dynamical reduction models to curved spacetimes and propose a class of generally covariant relativistic versions of the GRW model. We anticipate that the collapse operators of our class of models may play a rôle in a yet-to-be-formulated theory of semiclassical gravity with collapses. We show explicitly that the collapse operators map a dense domain of states that are initially Hadamard to final Hadamard states -- a property that we expect will be needed for the construction of such a semiclassical theory. Finally, we provide a simple example in w…
The formulation of covariant brackets on the space of solutions to a variational problem is analyzed in the framework of contact geometry. It is argued that the Poisson algebra on the space of functionals on fields should be read as a Poisson subalgebra within an algebra of functions equipped with a Jacobi bracket on a suitable contact manifold.
We propose and develop a measurement scheme for quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetimes, in which the QFT of interest, the "system", is dynamically coupled to another, the "probe", in a compact spacetime region. Measurements of observables in the probe system then serve as proxy measurements of observables in the system, under a correspondence which depends also on a preparation state of the probe theory. All our constructions are local and covariant, and the conditions may be stated abstractly in the framework of algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT). The induced system observables co…
It is widely accepted that the Feynman integral is one of the most promising methodologies for defining a generally covariant formulation of nonperturbative interacting quantum field theories (QFTs) without a fixed prearranged causal background. Recent literature suggests that if the spacetime metric is not fixed, e.g. because it is to be quantized along with the other fields, one may not be able to avoid considering the Feynman integral in the original Lorentz signature, without Wick rotation. Several mathematical phenomena are known, however, which are at some point showstoppers to a mathema…
