- Open Access
Relativistic collapse model with quantized time variables
Phys. Rev. A 112, 042218 – Published 21 October, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/j4lc-s4pw
Abstract
A relativistic collapse model for distinguishable particles is presented. Position and time, for each particle, are the fundamental operators of the theory. The Schrödinger equation is of the continuous spontaneous localization form, with a Hermitian Hamiltonian and an anti-Hermitian, white-noise dependent, Hamiltonian. It generates state vector evolution parametrized by an “evolution parameter.” It is shown how this can be interpreted as an evolving state in spacetime with collapses satisfying Born rule probabilities, and how certain choices of collapse generating operators lead to states of definite mass and definite configuration in spacetime. The model is Poincaré covariant and conserves energy in expectation.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (23)
- G. C. Ghirardi, A. Rimini and T. Weber, Unified dynamics for microscopic and macroscopic systems, Phys. Rev. D 34, 470 (1986); Disentanglement of quantum wave functions: Answer to “Comment on ‘unified dynamics for microscopic and macroscopic systems’ ” 36, 3287 (1987); The puzzling entanglement of Schrödinger's wave function, Found. Phys. 18, 1 (1988).
- P. Pearle, Combining stochastic dynamical state-vector reduction with spontaneous localization, Phys. Rev. A 39, 2277 (1989).
- G. C. Ghirardi, P. Pearle, and A. Rimini, Markov processes in Hilbert space and continuous spontaneous localization of systems of identical particles, Phys. Rev. A 42, 78 (1990).
- P. Pearle, Introduction to Dynamical Wave Function Collapse (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2024).
- P. Pearle, Toward a relativistic theory of statevector reduction, in Sixty-Two Years of Uncertainty, edited A. Miller (Plenum, New York, 1990), p. 193.
- G. C. Ghirardi, R. Grassi, and P. Pearle, Relativistic dynamical reduction models general framework and examples, Found. Phys. 20, 1271 (1990).
- W. C. Myrvold, Relativistic Markovian dynamical collapse theories must employ nonstandard degrees of freedom, Phys. Rev. A 96, 062116 (2017).
- P. Pearle, Relativistic collapse model with tachyonic features, Phys. Rev. A 59, 80 (1999); Relativistic dynamical collapse model, Phys. Rev. D 91, 105012 (2015).
- D. J. Bedingham, Relativistic state reduction dynamics, Found. Phys. 41, 686 (2011).
- R. Penrose, On gravity's role in quantum state reduction, Gen. Rel. Grav. 28, 581 (1996).
- A. Tilloy and L. Diósi, Sourcing semiclassical gravity from spontaneously localized quantum matter, Phys. Rev. D 93, 024026 (2016).
- L. Diósi, A universal master equation for the gravitational violation of quantum mechanics, Phys. Lett. A 120, 377 (1987).
- L. Diósi, Models for universal reduction of macroscopic quantum fluctuations, Phys. Rev. A 40, 1165 (1989).
- L. Diósi, Notes on certain Newton gravity mechanisms of wavefunction localization and decoherence, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40, 2989 (2007).
- F. Károlyházy, Gravitation and quantum mechanics of macroscopic objects, Nuovo Cimento A 42, 390 (1966).
- J. Oppenheim, A postquantum theory of classical gravity? Phys. Rev. X 13, 041040 (2023).
- D. N. Page and W. K. Wootters, Evolution without evolution dynamics described by stationary observables, Phys. Rev. D 27, 2885 (1983).
- V. Giovannetti, S. Lloyd, and L. Maccone, Quantum time, Phys. Rev. D 92, 045033 (2015).
- R. Tumulka, A relativistic version of the Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber model, J. Stat. Phys. 125, 821 (2006).
- R. Tumulka, A relativistic GRW flash process with interaction, in Do Wave Functions Jump? edited by V. Allori, A. Bassi, D. Dürr, and N. Zanghì (Springer, Cham, 2020), Vol. 198, pp. 321–347.
- P. M. Pearle, Relativistic classical mechanics with time as a dynamical variable, Phys. Rev. 168, 1429 (1968).
- T. P. Singh, Space-time from collapse of the wave-function, Z. Naturforsch. A. 74, 147 (2019).
- D. J. Bedingham and O. J. E. Maroney, Time symmetry in wave-function collapse, Phys. Rev. A 95, 042103 (2017).