RELATIVISTIC CAUSALITY IN THE QUANTUM MECHANICS OF A SCALAR PARTICLE
The relativistic quantal problem of the packet spreading of a scalar particle is considered, and a hypothetical experiment on the transfer of a signal at superluminary velocity is discussed. A theory in which the well-known causality condition is fulfilled (e.g., the vanishing of the commutator of the field quantities at the corresponding points) is used. The packet localization is carried out in terms of the Newton-Wigner coordinate for a scalar particle. A direct mathematical cause of this phenomenon is the non-vanishing of the well- known propagation function outside the light cone. It is indicated that the uncertainty relation cannot smear out this effect. An analogous situation occurs with the Dirac particle. Attempts to avoid or overcome the causality troubie without radically changing the quantai postulates are discussed. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research, Dubna, U.S.S.R. Lab. of Theoretical Physics
- NSA Number:
- NSA-17-028141
- OSTI ID:
- 4713808
- Report Number(s):
- JINR-E-1252
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
- Country of Publication:
- USSR
- Language:
- English
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