Quantum time and spatial localization in relativistic quantum mechanics

Abstract

Two related problems in relativistic quantum mechanics, the apparent superluminal propagation of initially localized particles, and the dependence of their localization on the motion of the observer, are analyzed in the context of the theory of constraints. Time and energy operators are introduced for the free relativistic particle, and a parametrization invariant formulation is obtained through Dirac constraint theory. The resulting description is of a system constrained in momentum and energy, but not in position or time, for which observables are constants of the motion. The Klein-Gordon equation is recovered on a physical Hilbert space, constructed via integration over the proper time from an augmented Hilbert space, wherein time and energy are dynamical variables. It is shown that the position observable acts on states in the augmented space; those states having strictly positive energy are non-local in time. Localization arises on a particular space-like hyperplane from quantum interference in time, position measurements receiving contributions from the past and future. Apparent causality problems are resolved by noting that, as the particle is potentially in the past, it can propagate to distant regions without exceeding the speed of light. Non-locality of the same system to a moving observer is due to Lorentz rotation of spatial axes out of the interference minimum.