Quantum limits of a space-time reference frame

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.11407v1
• Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2025 09:32:30 GMT
• Title: Quantum limits of a space-time reference frame
• Authors: Davide Mattei, Esteban Castro Ruiz,
• Abstract summary: We study the limitations for defining spatial and temporal intervals when the only available reference frame is a single quantum system.<n>By combining quantum speed limits with the mass energy equivalence of special relativity, we show that spatial localizability and temporal resolution are not independent.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: We study the limitations for defining spatial and temporal intervals when the only available reference frame is a single composite quantum system, whose internal degrees of freedom serve as a temporal reference, a clock, and whose center of mass degrees of freedom act as a spatial reference, a rod. By combining quantum speed limits with the mass energy equivalence of special relativity, we show that spatial localizability and temporal resolution are not independent: sharpening one inevitably blurs the other. Specifically, the internal energy coherence needed for precise timekeeping affects the center of mass dynamics, enhancing position spreading during free evolution. As a result, a single composite system cannot act as a perfect quantum reference frame for both space and time, leading to a Heisenberg like uncertainty relation between spatial and temporal intervals. After analyzing this trade off from an external perspective, we formulate it in a purely relational manner, by means of covariant observables relative to the space time quantum reference frame, uncovering an additional intrinsic uncertainty of order the Compton wavelength of the frame.

Related papers

• Entanglement Before Spacetime in Quantum-Gravity-Induced Interactions [0.0]
  We show that the bilocal phase responsible for entanglement generation remains well-defined and non-factorizable even in the absence of spacetime geometry.<n>Our results isolate the genuinely quantum content of QGEM protocols and clarify the contingent role played by spacetime geometry in mediating entanglement.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-02-05T07:36:08Z)
• Relational Emergent Time for Quantum System: A Multi-Observer, Gravitational, and Cosmological Framework [0.0]
  We present a relational framework in which temporal structure is not fundamental but emerges from correlations within a globally stationary quantum state.<n>The theory reproduces classical time dilation, predicts correlation-dependent deviations from standard evolution, and suggests that non-interacting or massless particles exhibit negligible internal time.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-12-15T22:37:51Z)
• Time Symmetry, Retrocausality, and Emergent Collapse: The Tlalpan Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics [51.56484100374058]
  The Tlalpan Interpretation (QTI) proposes that the wavefunction collapse is not a primitive, axiomatic rule but an emergent phenomenon.<n>The novelty of QTI lies in its embedding of collapse within the conceptual language of critical phenomena in statistical physics.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-08-25T20:30:56Z)
• Temporal Entanglement from Holographic Entanglement Entropy [44.99833362998488]
  We propose a systematic prescription to characterize temporal entanglement in quantum field theory.<n>For holographic quantum field theories, our prescription amounts to an analytic continuation of all co-dimension-two bulk extremal surfaces.<n>We show that it leads to results with self-consistent physical properties of temporal entanglement.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-23T18:14:21Z)
• Looking for Carroll particles in two time spacetime [55.2480439325792]
  Carroll particles with a non-vanishing value of energy are described in the framework of two time physics. We construct the quantum theory of such a particle using an unexpected correspondence between our parametrization and that obtained by Bars for the hydrogen atom in 1999.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-10-29T15:51:41Z)
• Measurement events relative to temporal quantum reference frames [44.99833362998488]
  We compare two consistent approaches to the Page-Wootters formalism to clarify the operational meaning of evolution and measurements.<n>We show that for non-ideal clocks, the purified measurement approach yields a time non-local evolution equation.<n>We argue that these approaches describe operationally distinct situations.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-08-21T18:26:12Z)
• Nonrelativistic spatiotemporal quantum reference frames [0.0]
  We introduce and analyze a nonrelativistic framework in which each system contains an internal clock in addition to its external clock. We show that even in simple scenarios, the relative uncertainty between clocks affects the relative spatial spread of the systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-07-04T18:34:57Z)
• The Relativistic Transactional Interpretation and Spacetime Emergence [0.0]
  We consider the manner in which the spacetime manifold emerges from a quantum substratum through the transactional process. There is no background spacetime as is generally assumed in physical theorizing. Specific processes in the quantum substratum serve to distinguish absolute from relative motion.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-03-20T21:08:58Z)
• Spacetime Quantum Reference Frames and superpositions of proper times [0.0]
  We introduce the notion of a spacetime QRF, associated to a quantum particle in spacetime. We observe a quantum superposition of gravitational redshifts and a quantum superposition of special-relativistic time dilations in the QRF.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-01-27T19:00:04Z)
• Relativistic Bell Test within Quantum Reference Frames [0.0]
  We show that Bell's inequalities for a pair of particles can be maximally violated in a special-relativistic regime. Our results open up the possibility of extending entanglement-based quantum communication protocols to relativistic regimes.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-08-07T18:00:27Z)
• Equivalence of approaches to relational quantum dynamics in relativistic settings [68.8204255655161]
  We show that the trinity' of relational quantum dynamics holds in relativistic settings per frequency superselection sector. We ascribe the time according to the clock subsystem to a POVM which is covariant with respect to its (quadratic) Hamiltonian.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-07-01T16:12:24Z)
• Projection evolution and quantum spacetime [68.8204255655161]
  We discuss the problem of time in quantum mechanics. An idea of construction of a quantum spacetime as a special set of the allowed states is presented. An example of a structureless quantum Minkowski-like spacetime is also considered.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2019-10-24T14:54:11Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.