IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-31608-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relativistic Bohmian trajectories of photons via weak measurements

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Foo

    (The University of Queensland)

  • Estelle Asmodelle

    (The University of Queensland)

  • Austin P. Lund

    (The University of Queensland
    Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Timothy C. Ralph

    (The University of Queensland)

Abstract

Bohmian mechanics is a nonlocal hidden-variable interpretation of quantum theory which predicts that particles follow deterministic trajectories in spacetime. Historically, the study of Bohmian trajectories has mainly been restricted to nonrelativistic regimes due to the widely held belief that the theory is incompatible with special relativity. Here, we present an approach for constructing the relativistic Bohmian-type velocity field of single particles. The advantage of our proposal is that it is operational in nature, grounded in weak measurements of the particle’s momentum and energy. We apply our weak measurement formalism to obtain the relativistic spacetime trajectories of photons in a Michelson–Sagnac interferometer. The trajectories satisfy quantum-mechanical continuity and the relativistic velocity addition rule. We propose a modified Alcubierre metric which could give rise to these trajectories within the paradigm of general relativity.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Foo & Estelle Asmodelle & Austin P. Lund & Timothy C. Ralph, 2022. "Relativistic Bohmian trajectories of photons via weak measurements," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31608-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31608-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31608-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-31608-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. C. Riek & P. Sulzer & M. Seeger & A. S. Moskalenko & G. Burkard & D. V. Seletskiy & A. Leitenstorfer, 2017. "Subcycle quantum electrodynamics," Nature, Nature, vol. 541(7637), pages 376-379, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesca Fabiana Settembrini & Frieder Lindel & Alexa Marina Herter & Stefan Yoshi Buhmann & Jérôme Faist, 2022. "Detection of quantum-vacuum field correlations outside the light cone," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-5, December.
    2. M. A. Weiss & A. Herbst & J. Schlegel & T. Dannegger & M. Evers & A. Donges & M. Nakajima & A. Leitenstorfer & S. T. B. Goennenwein & U. Nowak & T. Kurihara, 2023. "Discovery of ultrafast spontaneous spin switching in an antiferromagnet by femtosecond noise correlation spectroscopy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31608-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.