Detectors, Reference Frames, and Time (Springer Theses) - Hardcover

Book 617 of 797: Springer Theses

Smith, Alexander R. H.

 
9783030109998: Detectors, Reference Frames, and Time (Springer Theses)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 3030109992 ISBN 13: 9783030109998
Publisher: Springer, 2019

Synopsis

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.  

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

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.

From the Back Cover

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.  

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Springer
Publication date
2019
Language
English
ISBN 10 
3030109992
ISBN 13 
9783030109998
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
186

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9783030110017: Detectors, Reference Frames, and Time

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ISBN 10:  303011001X ISBN 13:  9783030110017
Publisher: Springer, 2019
Softcover