When Einstein formulated his special relativity, he developed his dynamics for point particles. Of course, many valiant efforts have been made to extend his relativity to rigid bodies, but this subject is forgotten in history. This is largely because of the emergence of quantum mechanics with wave-particle duality. Instead of Lorentz-boosting rigid bodies, we now boost waves and have to deal with Lorentz transformations of waves. We now have some understanding of plane waves or running waves in the covariant picture, but we do not yet have a clear picture of standing waves. In this report, we show that there is one set of standing waves which can be Lorentz-transformed while being consistent with all physical principle of quantum mechanics and relativity. It is possible to construct a representation of the Poincaré group using harmonic oscillator wave functions satisfying space-time boundary conditions. This set of wave functions is capable of explaining the quantum bound state for both slow and fast hadrons. In particular it can explain the quark model for hadrons at rest, and Feynman's parton model hadrons moving with a speed close to that of light.
We present a consistent, generally covariant quantization of light for non-vacuum birefringent, Lorentz-symmetry breaking electrodynamics in the context of the Standard Model Extension. We find that the number of light quanta in the field is not frame independent, and that the interaction of the quantized field with matter is necessarily birefringent. We also show that the conventional Lorenz gauge condition used to restrict the photon-mode basis to solutions of the Maxwell equations must be weakened to consistently describe Lorentz symmetry violation.
Other than scattering problems where perturbation theory is applicable, there are basically two ways to solve problems in physics. One is to reduce the problem to harmonic oscillators, and the other is to formulate the problem in terms of two-by-two matrices. If two oscillators are coupled, the problem combines both two-by-two matrices and harmonic oscillators. This method then becomes a powerful research tool to cover many different branches of physics. Indeed, the concept and methodology in one branch of physics can be translated into another through the common mathematical formalism. Couple…
The lifelong efforts of Paul A. M. Dirac were to construct localized quantum systems in the Lorentz covariant world. In 1927, he noted that the time-energy uncertainty should be included in the Lorentz-covariant picture. In 1945, he attempted to construct a representation of the Lorentz group using a normalizable Gaussian function localized both in the space and time variables. In 1949, he introduced his instant form to exclude time-like oscillations. He also introduced the light-cone coordinate system for Lorentz boosts. Also in 1949, he stated the Lie algebra of the inhomogeneous Lorentz gro…
As in the case of the hydrogen atom, bound-state wave functions are needed to generate hadronic spectra. For this purpose, in 1971, Feynman and his students wrote down a Lorentz-invariant harmonic oscillator equation. This differential equation has one set of solutions satisfying the Lorentz-covariant boundary condition. This covariant set generates Lorentz-invariant mass spectra with their degeneracies. Furthermore, the Lorentz-covariant wave functions allow us to calculate the valence parton distribution by Lorentz-boosting the quark-model wave function from the hadronic rest frame. However,…
We have shown the covariant relativistic spin operator is equivalent to the spin operator commuting with the free Dirac Hamiltonian. This implies that the covariant relativistic spin operator is a good quantum observable. The covariant relativistic spin operator has the pure quantum contribution which does not exist in the classical covariant spin operator. Based on this equivalence reduced spin states can be claerly defined. We have shown the change in the entropy of a reduced spin density matrix sweeps through the whole range according to the relative motion of an observer.
We show that it is possible to define a Lorentz-covariant reduced spin density matrix for massive particles. Such a matrix allows one to calculate the mean values of observables connected with spin measurements (average polarizations). Moreover, it contains not only information about polarization of the particle but also information about its average kinematical state. We also use our formalism to calculate the correlation function in the Einstein--Podolsky--Rosen--Bohm type experiment with massive relativistic particles.
The $D$-dimensional two-parameter deformed algebra with minimal length introduced by Kempf is generalized to a Lorentz-covariant algebra describing a ($D+1$)-dimensional quantized space-time. For D=3, it includes Snyder algebra as a special case. The deformed Poincaré transformations leaving the algebra invariant are identified. Uncertainty relations are studied. In the case of D=1 and one nonvanishing parameter, the bound-state energy spectrum and wavefunctions of the Dirac oscillator are exactly obtained.
The Lorentz-invariant S-matrix elements in interacting quantum field theory (QFT) are used to represent the QFT state by a Lorentz-invariant many-time wave function. Such a wave function can be used to describe inelastic scattering processes (involving particle creation and destruction) by Bohmian particle trajectories satisfying relativistic-covariant equations of motion.
Lorentz-covariant harmonic oscillator wave functions are constructed from the Lorentz-invariant oscillator differential equation of Feynman, Kislinger, and Ravndal for a two-body bound state. The wave functions are not invariant but covariant. As the differential equation contains the time-separation variable, the wave functions contain the same time-separation variable which does not exist in Schrödinger wave functions. This time-separation variable can be shown to belong to Feynman's rest of the universe, and can thus be eliminated from the density matrix. The covariant probability interpret…
The Galilean symmetry and the Poincare symmetry are usually taken as the fundamental (relativity) symmetries for `nonrelativistic' and `relativistic' physics, respectively, quantum or classical. Our fully group theoretical formulation approach to the theories, together with its natural companion of mechanics from symplectic geometry, ask for different perspectives. We present a sketch of the full picture here, emphasizing aspects which are different from the more familiar picture. The letter summarizes our earlier presented formulation while focusing on the part beyond, with an adjusted, or co…
Lattice gauge theory's discretization of spacetime suffers from a drawback in that Lorentz covariance is lost because the axes of the lattice create preferred directions in spacetime. Smaller and smaller lattice spacings decrease the effect but fail to eliminate it completely. It has been argued recently that detecting such a set of preferred directions or similar constraints would indicate whether the universe itself has an underlying lattice, i.e. the digital universe hypothesis. In this paper, I demonstrate a technique for accomplishing lattice gauge theory simulations while maintaining exa…
The earlier treatments of Lorentz covariant harmonic oscillator have brought to light various difficulties, such as reconciling Lorentz symmetry with the full Fock space, and divergence issues with their functional representations. We present here a full solution avoiding those problems. The complete set of Fock states is obtained, together with the corresponding explicit wavefunction and their inner product integrals free from any divergence problem and the Lorentz symmetry fully maintained without additional constraints imposed. By a simple choice of the pseudo-unitary representation of the …
In this paper, we derived Lorentz covariant quantum Liouville equation for the density operator which describes the relativistic quantum information processing from Tomonaga-Schwinger equation and an exact formal solution for the reduced-density-operator is obtained using the projector operator technique and the functional calculus. When all the members of the family of the hypersurfaces become flat hyperplanes, it is shown that our results agree with those of non-relativistic case which is valid only in some specified reference frame. To show that our new formulation can be applied to practic…
The $D$-dimensional $(β, β')$-two-parameter deformed algebra introduced by Kempf is generalized to a Lorentz-covariant algebra describing a ($D+1$)-dimensional quantized space-time. In the D=3 and $β=0$ case, the latter reproduces Snyder algebra. The deformed Poincaré transformations leaving the algebra invariant are identified. It is shown that there exists a nonzero minimal uncertainty in position (minimal length). The Dirac oscillator in a 1+1-dimensional space-time described by such an algebra is studied in the case where $β'=0$. Extending supersymmetric quantum mechanical and shape-invari…
We present in the article the formulation of a version of Lorentz covariant quantum mechanics based on a group theoretical construction from a Heisenberg-Weyl symmetry with position and momentum operators transforming as Minkowski four-vectors under the Lorentz symmetry. The basic representation is identified as a coherent state representation, essentially an irreducible component of the regular representation, with the matching representation of an extension of the group $C^*$-algebra giving the algebra of observables. The key feature of the formulation is that it is not unitary but pseudo-un…
The difference between Lorentz invariance and Lorentz covariance is discussed in detail. A covariant formalism is developed for the internal space-time symmetry of extended particles, especially in connection with the insightful observations Feynman made during the period 1969-72. A Lorentz-group formalism is presented for the harmonic oscillator model of Feynman, Kislinger and Ravndal, which was originally based on hadronic mass spectra. This covariant version allows us to construct a parton distribution function by Lorentz-boosting the oscillator wave function of a hadron at rest. The role o…
In this paper the relativistic quantum mechanics is considered in the framework of the nonstandard synchronization scheme for clocks. Such a synchronization preserves Poincar{é} covariance but (at least formally) distinguishes an inertial frame. This enables to avoid the problem of a noncausal transmision of information related to breaking of the Bell's inequalities in QM. Our analysis has been focused mainly on the problem of existence of a proper position operator for massive particles. We have proved that in our framework such an operator exists for particles with arbitrary spin. It fulfill…
Particle localization within quantum field theory is revisited. Canonical quantization of a free scalar field theory is performed in a manifestly Lorentz covariant way with respect to an arbitrary 3-surface $Σ$, which is the simultaneity surface associated with the observer, whose proper time direction is orthogonal to $Σ$. Position on $Σ$ is determined by a 4-vector ${\bar x}^μ$. The corresponding quantum position operator, formed in terms of the operators $a^\dagger ({\bar x})$, $a({\bar x})$, that create/annihilate particles on $Σ$, has thus well behaved properties under Lorentz transformat…
In two recent papers exact Hermite-Gaussian solutions to relativistic wave equations have been obtained for both electromagnetic and particle beams that include Gouy phase. The solutions for particle beams correspond to those of the Schrödinger equation in the non-relativistic limit. Here, distinct canonical and kinetic 4-momentum operators will be defined for quantum particles in matter wave beams. The kinetic momentum is equal to the canonical momentum minus the fluctuating terms resulting from the transverse localization of the beam. Three results are obtained. First, the total energy of a …
A Lorenz-covariant system of wave equations is formulated for a quantum-mechanical two-body system in one space dimension, comprised of one electron and one photon. Manifest Lorentz covariance is achieved using Dirac's formalism of multi-time wave functions, i.e., wave functions $Ψ(\mathbf{x}_{ph},\mathbf{x}_{el})$ where $\mathbf{x}_{el},\mathbf{x}_{ph}$ are the generic spacetime events of the electron and photon, respectively. Their interaction is implemented via a Lorentz-invariant no-crossing-of-paths boundary condition at the coincidence submanifold $\{\mathbf{x}_{el}=\mathbf{x}_{ph}\}$, c…
