Quantum mechanics and the covariance of physical laws in quantum reference frames

Abstract

In physics, every observation is made with respect to a frame of reference. Although reference frames are usually not considered as degrees of freedom, in all practical situations it is a physical system which constitutes a reference frame. Can a quantum system be considered as a reference frame and, if so, which description would it give of the world? Here, we introduce a general method to quantise reference frame transformations, which generalises the usual reference frame transformation to a "superposition of coordinate transformations". We describe states, measurement, and dynamical evolution in different quantum reference frames, without appealing to an external, absolute reference frame, and find that entanglement and superposition are frame-dependent features. The transformation also leads to a generalisation of the notion of covariance of dynamical physical laws, to an extension of the weak equivalence principle, and to the possibility of defining the rest frame of a quantum system.

Closely matches the published version in Nature Communications. 29 + 5 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (13)

• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Reference frames, superselection rules, and quantum information
• The resource theory of quantum reference frames: manipulations and monotones
• Establishing EPR-channels between Nanomechanics and Atomic Ensembles
• Evading quantum mechanics
• Degradation of a quantum reference frame
• Quantum communication using a bounded-size quantum reference frame
• Dynamics of a Quantum Reference Frame
• Trajectories without quantum uncertainties
• Quantum reference frames and deformed symmetries
• Kinematics and dynamics in noninertial quantum frames of reference
• General relativistic effects in quantum interference of "clocks"
• Galilei covariance and Einstein's equivalence principle in quantum reference frames

Cited by in corpus (173)

• The Trinity of Relational Quantum Dynamics
• A change of perspective: switching quantum reference frames via a perspective-neutral framework
• Quantum clocks and the temporal localisability of events in the presence of gravitating quantum systems
• Quantum clocks observe classical and quantum time dilation
• Switching internal times and a new perspective on the 'wave function of the universe'
• Quantum superposition of spacetimes obeys Einstein's Equivalence Principle
• Equivalence of approaches to relational quantum dynamics in relativistic settings
• Quantum reference frames for general symmetry groups
• Relativistic quantum reference frames: the operational meaning of spin
• Massive quantum systems as interfaces of quantum mechanics and gravity
• Spacetime Quantum Reference Frames and superpositions of proper times
• How to switch between relational quantum clocks
• Switching quantum reference frames in the N-body problem and the absence of global relational perspectives
• Quantum Relativity of Subsystems
• Unruh-deWitt detectors in quantum superpositions of trajectories
• Edge modes as reference frames and boundary actions from post-selection
• Quantum reference frame transformations as symmetries and the paradox of the third particle
• Killing Horizons Decohere Quantum Superpositions
• Quantum reference frames, measurement schemes and the type of local algebras in quantum field theory
• The arrow of time in operational formulations of quantum theory
• Quantum superpositions of Minkowski spacetime
• Unruh effect for detectors in superposition of accelerations
• Edge modes as dynamical frames: charges from post-selection in generally covariant theories
• Entanglement Witness for the Weak Equivalence Principle
• Gravity entanglement, quantum reference systems, degrees of freedom
• The group structure of dynamical transformations between quantum reference frames
• Generalised uncertainty relations for angular momentum and spin in quantum geometry
• Time and Quantum Clocks: a review of recent developments
• Relativistic Bell Test within Quantum Reference Frames
• Generalized Black Hole Entropy is von Neumann Entropy
• The view from a Wigner bubble
• Entanglement harvesting with coherently delocalized matter
• Replacing the Notion of Spacetime Distance by the Notion of Correlation
• Physical implications of a fundamental period of time
• Null infinity as an open Hamiltonian system
• Optimal Universal Quantum Error Correction via Bounded Reference Frames
• Internal quantum reference frames for finite Abelian groups
• The Open Systems View and the Everett Interpretation
• Non-covariance of the dressed-metric approach in loop quantum cosmology
• The geometry of spacetime from quantum measurements
• On Coherent Delocalization in the Light-Matter Interaction
• Second-quantized Unruh-DeWitt detectors and their quantum reference frame transformations
• Non-inertial quantum clock frames lead to non-Hermitian dynamics
• Quantum gravity states, entanglement graphs and second-quantized tensor networks
• Transformation of Spin in Quantum Reference Frames
• Schrödinger's cat for de Sitter spacetime
• Quantum Null Geometry and Gravity
• Switching Quantum Reference Frames for Quantum Measurement
• Classical and Nonclassical Time Dilation for Quantum Clocks
• Quantum Reference Frames at the Boundary of Spacetime
• The Construction Interpretation: Conceptual Roads to Quantum Gravity
• Quantum reference frames for an indefinite metric
• Operational Quantum Reference Frame Transformations
• Geometric Event-Based Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
• Microscopic calculation of polariton scattering in semiconductor microcavities
• Testing quantum theory with thought experiments
• Identification is Pointless: Quantum Coordinates, Localisation of Events, and the Quantum Hole Argument
• Quantum time dilation in atomic spectra
• Quantifying quantum reference frames in composed systems: local, global and mutual asymmetries
• Quantum resource covariance
• Heat as a witness of quantum properties
• Communicating without shared reference frames
• A general framework for cyclic and fine-tuned causal models and their compatibility with space-time
• Coherence and realism in the Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Flow of time during energy measurements and the resulting time-energy uncertainty relations
• Entanglement-asymmetry correspondence for internal quantum reference frames
• Inference of gravitational field superposition from quantum measurements
• A note on the AdS/CFT correspondence and the nature of spacetime in quantum gravity
• A relational perspective on the Wigner-Araki-Yanase theorem
• Simulating indefinite causal order with Rindler observers
• A model of quantum spacetime
• Corner symmetry and quantum geometry
• Double Quantization
• Gravitational entropy is observer-dependent
• Embedding cyclic information-theoretic structures in acyclic spacetimes: no-go results for indefinite causality
• How does the Planck scale affect qubits?
• Dynamical nonlocality in quantum time via modular operators
• The Quantum Totalitarian Property and Exact Symmetries
• Quantization of dynamical symplectic reduction
• Relativity of quantum superpositions
• Soft edges: the many links between soft and edge modes
• Visions in Quantum Gravity
• Imprints of screened dark energy on nonlocal quantum correlations
• Non-abelian symmetry-resolved entanglement entropy
• Relational evolution with oscillating clocks
• Watching the Clocks: Interpreting the Page-Wootters Formalism and the Internal Quantum Reference Frame Programme
• Spacetime quantum and classical mechanics with dynamical foliation
• Quantum Reference Frames for Lorentz Symmetry
• Quantum conformal symmetries for spacetimes in superposition
• Equivalence Principle in Classical and Quantum Gravity
• Robustness of the Page-Wootters construction across different pictures, states of the universe and system-clock interactions
• Quantum generalisation of Einstein's Equivalence Principle can be verified with entangled clocks as quantum reference frames
• Measurement events relative to temporal quantum reference frames
• Crossed products and quantum reference frames: on the observer-dependence of gravitational entropy
• Why space could be quantised on a different scale to matter
• Schrödinger's Black Hole Cat
• Relativistic spin operator must be intrinsic
• Indefinite causal order and quantum coordinates
• Generalised second law beyond the semiclassical regime
• Quantum superposition of causal structures as a universal resource for local implementation of nonlocal quantum operations
• Blurred quantum Darwinism across quantum reference frames
• Scalar Cosmological Perturbations from Quantum Gravitational Entanglement
• Particle scattering in a sonic analogue of special relativity
• $E=m{c}^2$ versus Symmetry for Lorentz Covariant Physics
• The sum of entanglement and subsystem coherence is invariant under quantum reference frame transformations
• Nonrelativistic spatiotemporal quantum reference frames
• Admissible Causal Structures and Correlations
• Smooth Metric Adjusted Skew Information Rates
• The Equivalence Principle as a Noether Symmetry
• Aharonov-Bohm effect with an effective complex-valued vector potential
• Entanglement-induced deviation from the geodesic motion in quantum gravity
• Quantum Origin of (Newtonian) Mass and Galilean Relativity Symmetry
• Perspective-neutral approach to quantum frame covariance for general symmetry groups
• Beyond i.i.d. in the Resource Theory of Asymmetry: An Information-Spectrum Approach for Quantum Fisher Information
• Gravitational entanglement witness through Einstein ring image
• Accelerated detector in a superposed spacetime
• Genuine multipartite entanglement and quantum coherence in an electron-positron system: Relativistic covariance
• Relational dynamics and Page-Wootters formalism in group field theory
• Infinitesimal reference frames suffice to determine the asymmetry properties of a quantum system
• A New Approach to Generalised Uncertainty Relations
• Neutrinos, mixed bosons, Quantum Reference Frames and entanglement
• The Quantum Measurement Problem: A Review of Recent Trends
• A Statistical Fields Theory underlying the Thermodynamics of Ricci Flow and Gravity
• Modified Brans-Dicke cosmology with Minimum Length Uncertainty
• How to Minimize the Decoherence Caused by Black Holes
• Quantum states for a minimum-length spacetime
• Superpositions of thermalisations in relativistic quantum field theory
• Algebraic properties of quantum reference frames: Does time fluctuate?
• Equivalence Principle for Quantum Mechanics in the Heisenberg Picture
• Fact-nets: towards a mathematical framework for relational quantum mechanics
• Quantum Mechanics in Curved Space(time) with a Noncommutative Geometric Perspective
• Quantum mereology and subsystems from the spectrum
• Uncertainty Relations Relative to Phase-Space Quantum Reference Frames
• The Dynamics of Entropies at the Onset of Interactions
• A Theory of the Big Bang in McTaggart's Time
• Decoherence of a composite particle induced by a weak quantized gravitational field
• Freeze-free cosmological evolution with a non-monotonic internal clock
• Decoherence and information encoding in quantum reference frames
• Problems with Modified Commutators
• Background Independence and Quantum Causal Structure
• Localization POVMs and intrinsic temporal uncertainty
• Relational structures of fundamental theories
• Searching for a physical description relative to a quantum system
• Quantum Gravity, Hydrodynamics and Emergent Cosmology: A Collection of Perspectives
• Quantum Mechanics from Relational Properties, Part III: Path Integral Implementation
• Moderate Physical Perspectivalism
• Fractal properties of particle paths due to generalised uncertainty relations
• Geometry and proper time of a relativistic quantum clock
• Wigner's friend scenarios: on what to condition and how to verify the predictions
• On quantum superpositions of graphs, no-signalling and covariance
• Linearization (in)stabilities and crossed products
• Barnich-Troessaert Bracket as a Dirac Bracket on the Covariant Phase Space
• A spacetime-covariant approach to inertial and accelerated quantum clocks in first-quantization
• What can we do in a symmetry-constrained perspective? The importance of the total charge's status in quantum reference frame frameworks
• Quantum reference frames and triality
• Towards a Quantum Erlangen Program
• Path Integral in Modular Space
• Quantum Euler angles and agency-dependent spacetime
• Second-Order Moment Quantum Fluctuations and Quantum Equivalence Principle
• Doubly Quantum Mechanics
• On the diagonalization of quadratic Hamiltonians
• Quantum reference frames: derivation of perspective-dependent descriptions via a perspective-neutral structure
• Considering a superposition of classical reference frames
• Quantum Mechanics Relative to a Quantum Reference System: a Relative State Approach
• Hawking radiation for detectors in superposition of locations outside a black hole
• Quantum reference frames for spacetime symmetries and large gauge transformations
• Does Quantum Mechanics Breed Larger, More Intricate Quantum Theories? The Case for Experience-Centric Quantum Theory and the Interactome of Quantum Theories
• Devices in Superposition
• Large effects from quantum reference frames
• Quantum geometric tensor determines the pure-state i.i.d. conversion rate in the resource theory of asymmetry for any compact Lie group
• Consistency of quantum computation and the equivalence principle
• Quantum Spacetime: Echoes of basho
• Relational superposition measurements with a material quantum ruler