Related papers: Localization and Causality for a free particle
The acausal behavior of relativistic states exhibited by Hegerfeldt is shown not to be present in physical systems described by first order in time evolution equations.
The quantum state of a particle can be completely specified by a position at one instant of time. This implies a lack of information, hence a symmetry, as to where the particle will move. We here study the consequences for free particles of…
Contrary to what is often stated, a fundamental spacetime discreteness need not contradict Lorentz invariance. A causal set's discreteness is in fact locally Lorentz invariant, and we recall the reasons why. For illustration, we introduce a…
Causality never gained the status of a "law" or "principle" in physics. Some recent literature even popularized the false idea that causality is a notion that should be banned from theory. Such misconception relies on an alleged…
Attempts to quantize general relativity encounter an odd problem. The Hamiltonian that normally generates time evolution vanishes in the case of general relativity as a result of diffeomorphism invariance. The theory seems to be saying that…
Comparison theorems are established for the Dirac and Klein--Gordon equations. We suppose that V^{(1)}(r) and V^{(2)}(r) are two real attractive central potentials in d dimensions that support discrete Dirac eigenvalues E^{(1)}_{k_d\nu} and…
A physical theory of experiments carried out in a space-time region can accommodate a detector localized in another space-like separated region, in three, not necessarily exclusive, ways: 1) the detector formally collapses physical states…
The logical inference approach to quantum theory, proposed earlier [Ann. Phys. 347 (2014) 45-73], is considered in a relativistic setting. It is shown that the Klein-Gordon equation for a massive, charged, and spinless particle derives from…
In this paper, I provide a formal set of assumptions and give a natural criterion for a quantum field theory to admit particles. I construct a na\"ive approach to localization for a free bosonic quantum field theory and show how this…
We study a relativistic charged Dirac particle moving in a rotating magnetic field. By using a time-dependent unitary transformation, the Dirac equation with the time-dependent Hamiltonian can be reduced to a Dirac-like equation with a…
On plain physical grounds localization of relativistic quantum particles is extended to the achronal regions of Minkowski spacetime. Achronal localization fulfills automatically the requirements of causality. It constitutes the frame which…
It is often argued that bottom-up causation under a physicalist, reductionist worldview precludes free will in the libertarian sense. On the one hand, the paradigm of classical mechanics makes determinism inescapable, while on the other,…
Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations are the motion equations for relativistic particles with spin 0 (so-called scalar particles) and 1/2 (electron/positron) respectively. For a free particle, the Dirac equation is derived from the Klein-Gordon…
Based on the assumption that the probability density of finding a free particle is independent of position, we infer the form of the eigenfunction for the free particle, $\bra{x} p > = \exp(ipx/\hbar)/\sqrt{2\pi\hbar}$. The canonical…
We construct a theory of particles moving in curved both momentum space and spacetime, being a generalization of Relative Locality. We find that in order to construct such theory, with desired symmetries, including the general coordinate…
The diffculties of relativistic particle theories formulated my means of canonical quantization, such as Klein-Gordon and Dirac theories, ultimately led theoretical physicists to turn on quantum field theory to model elementary particle…
The idea that events obey a definite causal order is deeply rooted in our understanding of the world and at the basis of the very notion of time. But where does causal order come from, and is it a necessary property of nature? We address…
In his analysis of the Classical Theory of Radiating Electrons, Dirac (1938) draws attention to the characteristic instability of solutions to the third order equation of motion. He remarks that changing the sign of the self-force…
The expression of causality depends on an underlying choice of chronology. Since a chronology is provided by any Lorentzian metric in relativistic theories, there are as many expressions of causality as there are non-conformally related…
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of a free spinning particle in 2+1-dimensions or {\it anyon} are established, following closely the analysis of Hanson and Regge. Two viable (and inequivalent) Lagrangians are derived. It is also…