English

Generalised uncertainty relations for angular momentum and spin in quantum geometry

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2020-05-27 v3 Quantum Physics

Abstract

We derive generalised uncertainty relations (GURs) for angular momentum and spin in the smeared-space model of quantum geometry. The model implements a minimum length and a minimum linear momentum, and recovers both the generalised uncertainty principle (GUP) and the extended uncertainty principle (EUP) within a single formalism. In this paper, we investigate the consequences of these results for particles with extrinsic and intrinsic angular momentum, and obtain generalisations of the canonical so(3){\rm so(3)} and su(2){\rm su(2)} algebras. We find that, although SO(3){\rm SO(3)} symmetry is preserved on three-dimensional slices of an enlarged phase space, individual subcomponents of the generalised generators obey nontrivial subalgebras. These give rise to GURs for angular momentum while leaving the canonical commutation relations intact except for a simple rescaling, +β\hbar \rightarrow \hbar + \beta. The value of the new parameter, β×1061\beta \simeq \hbar \times 10^{-61}, is determined by the ratio of the dark energy density to the Planck density. Here, we assume the former to be of the order of the Planck length and the latter to be of the order of the de Sitter momentum Λ\sim \hbar\sqrt{\Lambda}, where Λ\Lambda is the cosmological constant. In the smeared-space model, \hbar and β\beta are interpreted as the quantisation scales for matter and geometry, respectively, and a quantum state vector is associated with the spatial background. We show that this also gives rise to a rescaled Lie algebra for generalised spin operators, together with associated subalgebras that are analogous to those for orbital angular momentum. Remarkably, consistency of the algebraic structure requires the quantum state associated with a flat background to be fermionic, with spin eigenvalues ±β/2\pm \beta/2. Finally, the modified spin algebra leads to GURs for spin measurements.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1912.07094,
  title  = {Generalised uncertainty relations for angular momentum and spin in quantum geometry},
  author = {Matthew J. Lake and Marek Miller and Shi-Dong Liang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1912.07094},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

28 pages of main text, plus 12 additional pages split between 4 appendices and 3 pages of references. No figures. Invited contribution to the Universe special issue "Rotation Effects in Relativity", Matteo Ruggiero ed. Published version

R2 v1 2026-06-23T12:46:29.200Z