TY - JOUR
T1 - Consistency between causality and complementarity guaranteed by the Robertson inequality in quantum field theory
AU - Sugiyama, Yuuki
AU - Matsumura, Akira
AU - Yamamoto, Kazuhiro
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for the discussions at the QUP theoretical collaboration. We especially thank S. Iso, Y. Hidaka, J. Soda, Y. Nambu, K. Shimada, and Y. Kuramochi for their insightful discussions and helpful comments. Y. S. was supported by the Kyushu University Innovator Fellowship in Quantum Science. A. M. was supported by 2022 Research Start Program 202203. K. Y. was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI, Grant No. 22H05263.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Physical Society.
PY - 2022/12/15
Y1 - 2022/12/15
N2 - It has long been debated whether gravity should be quantized or not. Recently, the authors in [Sci. Rep. 6, 22777 (2016)SRCEC32045-232210.1038/srep22777; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 3035 (2009)PNASA60027-842410.1073/pnas.0813239106] discussed the inconsistency between causality and complementarity in a Gedankenexperiment involving the quantum superposition of massive/charged bodies, and Belenchia et al. [Phys. Rev. D 98, 126009 (2018)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.98.126009; Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 28, 1943001 (2019)IMPDEO0218-271810.1142/S0218271819430016] resolved the inconsistency by requiring the quantum radiation and vacuum fluctuations of gravitational/electromagnetic field. Stimulated by their works, we reanalyze the consistency between the two physical properties, causality and complementarity, according to the quantum field theory. In this analysis, we consider a Gedankenexperiment inspired by [Sci. Rep. 6, 22777 (2016)SRCEC32045-232210.1038/srep22777; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 3035 (2009)PNASA60027-842410.1073/pnas.0813239106; Phys. Rev. D 98, 126009 (2018)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.98.126009; Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 28, 1943001 (2019)IMPDEO0218-271810.1142/S0218271819430016], in which two charged particles coupled with a photon field are in a superposition of two trajectories. First, we observe that causality is satisfied by the retarded propagation of the photon field. Next, by introducing an inequality between visibility and which-path information, we show that the quantum radiation and vacuum fluctuations of the photon field ensure complementarity. We further find that the Robertson inequality associated with the photon field leads to the consistency between causality and complementarity in our Gedankenexperiment. Finally, we mention that a similar feature appears in the quantum field of gravity.
AB - It has long been debated whether gravity should be quantized or not. Recently, the authors in [Sci. Rep. 6, 22777 (2016)SRCEC32045-232210.1038/srep22777; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 3035 (2009)PNASA60027-842410.1073/pnas.0813239106] discussed the inconsistency between causality and complementarity in a Gedankenexperiment involving the quantum superposition of massive/charged bodies, and Belenchia et al. [Phys. Rev. D 98, 126009 (2018)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.98.126009; Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 28, 1943001 (2019)IMPDEO0218-271810.1142/S0218271819430016] resolved the inconsistency by requiring the quantum radiation and vacuum fluctuations of gravitational/electromagnetic field. Stimulated by their works, we reanalyze the consistency between the two physical properties, causality and complementarity, according to the quantum field theory. In this analysis, we consider a Gedankenexperiment inspired by [Sci. Rep. 6, 22777 (2016)SRCEC32045-232210.1038/srep22777; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 3035 (2009)PNASA60027-842410.1073/pnas.0813239106; Phys. Rev. D 98, 126009 (2018)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.98.126009; Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 28, 1943001 (2019)IMPDEO0218-271810.1142/S0218271819430016], in which two charged particles coupled with a photon field are in a superposition of two trajectories. First, we observe that causality is satisfied by the retarded propagation of the photon field. Next, by introducing an inequality between visibility and which-path information, we show that the quantum radiation and vacuum fluctuations of the photon field ensure complementarity. We further find that the Robertson inequality associated with the photon field leads to the consistency between causality and complementarity in our Gedankenexperiment. Finally, we mention that a similar feature appears in the quantum field of gravity.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.106.125002
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.106.125002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85143794310
VL - 106
JO - Physical Review D
JF - Physical Review D
SN - 2470-0010
IS - 12
M1 - 125002
ER -