dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaStates, Symmetries and Superselection
| Authors | Domenico Giulini |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9906108 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9906108 |
| Journal | Lect.Notes Phys. 538 (2000) 87-100 |
Abstract
The process of dynamical decoherence may cause apparent superselection rules, which are sometimes called `environmentally induced' or `soft'. A natural question is whether such dynamical processes are eventually also responsible for at least some of the superselection rules which are usually presented as fundamentally rooted in the kinematical structure of the theory (so called `hard' superselection rules). With this question in mind, I re-investigate two well known examples where superselection rules are usually argued to rigorously exist within the given mathematical framework. These are (1) the Bargmann superselection rule for the total mass in Galilei invariant quantum mechanics and (2) the charge superselection rule in quantum electrodynamics. I argue that, for various reasons, the kinematical arguments usually given are not physically convincing unless they are based on an underlying dynamical process.
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"abstract": "The process of dynamical decoherence may cause apparent superselection rules,\nwhich are sometimes called `environmentally induced\u0027 or `soft\u0027. A natural\nquestion is whether such dynamical processes are eventually also responsible\nfor at least some of the superselection rules which are usually presented as\nfundamentally rooted in the kinematical structure of the theory (so called\n`hard\u0027 superselection rules). With this question in mind, I re-investigate two\nwell known examples where superselection rules are usually argued to rigorously\nexist within the given mathematical framework. These are (1) the Bargmann\nsuperselection rule for the total mass in Galilei invariant quantum mechanics\nand (2) the charge superselection rule in quantum electrodynamics. I argue\nthat, for various reasons, the kinematical arguments usually given are not\nphysically convincing unless they are based on an underlying dynamical process.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9906108",
"authors": [
"Domenico Giulini"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"gr-qc",
"hep-th"
],
"journal_ref": "Lect.Notes Phys. 538 (2000) 87-100",
"title": "States, Symmetries and Superselection",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9906108"
},
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