Published January 2001 | Version v1
Journal article

The inconsistency of the usual Galilean transformation in quantum mechanics and how to fix it

  • 1. City Coll., New York (United States)

Description

It is shown that the generally accepted statement that one cannot superpose states of different mass in non-relativistic quantum mechanics is inconsistent. It is pointed out that the extra phase induced in a moving system, which was previously thought to be unphysical, is merely the non-relativistic residue of the ''twin-paradox'' effect. In general, there are phase effects due to proper time differences between moving frames that do not vanish non-relativistically. There are also effects due to the equivalence of mass and energy in this limit. The remedy is to include both proper time and rest energy non-relativistically. This means generalizing the meaning of proper time beyond its classical meaning, and introducing the mass as its conjugate momentum. The result is an uncertainty principle between proper time and mass that is very general, and an integral role for both concepts as operators in non-relativistic physics. (orig.)

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Zeitschrift fuer Naturforschung. A: Physical Sciences
Journal Volume
56
Journal Issue
1-2
Journal Page Range
p. 67-75
ISSN
0932-0784
CODEN
ZNASEI

Conference

Title
3. workshop on mysteries, puzzles and paradoxes in quantum mechanics
Dates
17-23 Sep 2000
Place
Gargnano (Italy)