Detectors, Reference Frames, and Time

Alexander R. H. Smith (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

XIX, 167 Seiten

2019 | 1st ed. 2019
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-030-10999-8 (ISBN)

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This thesis uses the tools of quantum information science to uncover fascinating new insights about the intersection of quantum theory and relativity. It is divided into three self-contained parts, the first of which employs detector models to investigate how the information content of quantum fields depends on spacetime curvature and global spacetime topology. The behavior of Unruh-DeWitt detectors on curved spacetimes are investigated, following which these detectors are used to probe the vacuum state of a scalar field in various topologies. This leads to a generalization of the entanglement harvesting protocol involving detectors in arbitrary curved spacetimes admitting a Wightman function. The second part extends the theory of quantum reference frames to those associated with noncompact groups. Motivated by the pursuit of a relational relativistic quantum theory where the group of reference frames is the Poincaré group, the author then generalizes a communication protocol between two parties lacking a common reference frame to the scenario where the group of transformations of their reference frame is a one-dimensional noncompact Lie group. Finally, the third part, inspired by theories of quantum gravity, generalizes the conditional probability interpretation of time, a proposed mechanism for time to emerge from a fundamentally timeless Universe. While the conditional probability interpretation of time is based upon conditioning a solution to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation on a subsystem of the universe that acts a clock, the author extends this approach to include an interaction between the system being used as a clock and a system whose evolution the clock is tracking.

Alexander Smith received his PhD from the University of Waterloo in 2017. He holds an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a Junior Fellowship in the Society of Fellows, both at Dartmouth College.

Chapter1. Introduction.- Part1: Detectors in Curved Spacetimes.- Chapter2. Quantum Field Theory on Curved Spacetimes.- Chapter3. The Unruh-DeWitt Detector and Entanglement Harvesting.- Chapter4. Unruh-DeWitt Detectors in Quotients of Minkowski Space.- Chapter5. Unruh-DeWitt Detectors in (2+1)-dimensional Black Hole Spacetimes.- Part2: Quantum Reference Frames.- Chapter6. Quantum reference frames associated with noncompact groups.- Chapter7. Communication without a shared reference frame.- Part3: Quantizing Time.- Chapter8. The conditional probability interpretation of time.

Erscheinungsdatum	23.04.2019
Reihe/Serie	Springer Theses
Zusatzinfo	XIX, 167 p. 25 illus., 23 illus. in color.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	439 g
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Theoretische Physik
Schlagworte	communication protocol with non-classical referenc • communication protocol with non-classical reference frame • conditional probability interpretation of time • detectors in curved spacetimes • entanglement harvesting • Quantum Field Theory on curved spacetimes • quantum reference frames • relational relativistic quantum theory • Unruh-DeWitt detectors
ISBN-10	3-030-10999-2 / 3030109992
ISBN-13	978-3-030-10999-8 / 9783030109998
Zustand	Neuware