Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Detectors, Reference Frames, and Time

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Alexander R. H. Smith

    1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Nominated as an outstanding PhD thesis by the University of Waterloo
  • Applies quantum information science to discover new insights connecting quantum theory and relativity
  • Uses detector models to uncover the effects of spacetime topology on the information content of quantum fields
  • Generalizes a proposed mechanism for the quantum emergence of time

Part of the book series: Springer Theses (Springer Theses)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Alexander R. H. Smith
    Pages 1-5

  3. Detectors in Curved Spacetimes

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Quantum Field Theory on Curved Spacetimes

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 9-15

    3. The Unruh-DeWitt Detector and Entanglement Harvesting

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 17-40

    4. Unruh-DeWitt Detectors in Quotients of Minkowski Space

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 41-71

    5. Unruh-DeWitt Detectors Around (2+1)-Dimensional Black Holes

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 73-94

  4. Quantum Reference Frames

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Quantum Reference Frames Associated with Noncompact Groups

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 97-119

    3. Communication Without a Shared Reference Frame

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 121-135

  5. Quantizing Time

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 137-137
      Download chapter PDF

    2. The Conditional Probability Interpretation of Time: The Case of Interacting Clocks

      • Alexander R. H. Smith
      Pages 139-150

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 151-167
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This thesis uses the tools of quantum information science to uncover fascinating new insights about the intersection of quantum theory and relativity. It is divided into three self-contained parts, the first of which employs detector models to investigate how the information content of quantum fields depends on spacetime curvature and global spacetime topology. The behavior of Unruh-DeWitt detectors on curved spacetimes are investigated, following which these detectors are used to probe the vacuum state of a scalar field in various topologies. This leads to a generalization of the entanglement harvesting protocol involving detectors in arbitrary curved spacetimes admitting a Wightman function. The second part extends the theory of quantum reference frames to those associated with noncompact groups. Motivated by the pursuit of a relational relativistic quantum theory where the group of reference frames is the Poincaré group, the author then generalizes a communication protocol between two parties lacking a common reference frame to the scenario where the group of transformations of their reference frame is a one-dimensional noncompact Lie group. Finally, the third part, inspired by theories of quantum gravity, generalizes the conditional probability interpretation of time, a proposed mechanism for time to emerge from a fundamentally timeless Universe. While the conditional probability interpretation of time is based upon conditioning a solution to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation on a subsystem of the universe that acts a clock, the author extends this approach to include an interaction between the system being used as a clock and a system whose evolution the clock is tracking.  

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA

    Alexander R. H. Smith

About the author

Alexander Smith received his PhD from the University of Waterloo in 2017. He holds an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a Junior Fellowship in the Society of Fellows, both at Dartmouth College.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation