Limitation to Quantum Measurements of Spacetime Distances
High Energy Physics - Theory
2011-03-28 v1
Abstract
Inspired by the work of Wheeler among others, we have studied the problem of quantum measurements of space-time distances by applying the general principles of quantum mechanics as well as those of general relativity. Contrary to the folklore, the minimum error in the measurement of a length is shown to be proportional to the one-third power of the length itself. This uncertainty in space-time measurements implies an uncertainty of the space-time metric and yields quantum decoherence for particles heavier than the Planck mass. There is also a corresponding minimum error in energy-momentum measurements.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.hep-th/9406110,
title = {Limitation to Quantum Measurements of Spacetime Distances},
author = {Y. Jack Ng},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/9406110},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
9pages, nofigures, postscript file, IASSNS-94/41