What is electric charge?: Charge as a local observable in relativistic quantum field theory

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.00468v1
• Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2026 06:17:27 GMT
• Title: What is electric charge?: Charge as a local observable in relativistic quantum field theory
• Abstract summary: I argue that even when $j$ can be suitably defined, the interpretability of $j$ as the local charge operator'' is dubious.<n>I propose the concept of scope-local charge'' $Q_(P)$ for a scope'' $P$, expressed by a finite-dimensional projection.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: It is rather surprising that modern quantum physics does not appear to have provided any clear answer to the simple question ``what is electric charge?''. Even when the total charge operator $Q$ is well-defined, the non-locality of $Q$ implies that it is not an observable in the usual sense, which can be measured by a (local) experimental apparatus. A candidate for the ``local version'' of charge operator is the 4-current operator $j=(j^μ)_{μ=0,1,2,3}$. However, it is known that the rigorous definition of $j$ is difficult in $(3+1)$-dimensional Minkowski space. Although it was found that the current can be defined in $(1+1)$-dimensions (Carey et al.), I argue that even when $j$ can be suitably defined, the interpretability of $j$ as the ``local charge operator'' is dubious. Instead I return to Araki and Wyss (1964), and propose the concept of ``scope-local charge'' $Q_ζ(P)$ for a ``scope'' $P$, expressed by a finite-dimensional projection. I work in an abstract $C^{*}$-algebraic setting.

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