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Thermal time as an unsharp observable

Mathematical Physics 2024-03-18 v2 Functional Analysis math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

We show that the Connes-Rovelli thermal time associated with the quantum harmonic oscillator can be described as an (unsharp) observable, that is, as a positive operator valued measure. We furthermore present extensions of this result to the free massless relativistic particle in one dimension and to a hypothetical physical system whose equilibrium state is given by the noncommutative integral.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2306.13774,
  title  = {Thermal time as an unsharp observable},
  author = {Jan van Neerven and Pierre Portal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.13774},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

19 pages, to appear in Journal of Mathematical Physics

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:13:12.629Z