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The role of position in quantum theory

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Abstract

The paper puts forward the proposal to do relativistic quantum theory without a position operator and without a position probability amplitude. The proposed scheme employs space and time in a fundamental manner and treats them equitably as in special relativity by defining the state vectors as functions of configuration spacetime. From a discussion of the conceptual structure and of the problem of measurement of quantum theory, there emerges an understanding which shows that the absence of a satisfactory position probability density in important cases like that of the photon, in the usual scheme of quantum theory, poses a fundamental difficulty, but that the scheme proposed here is free from the same difficulty and promises, instead, to lead in a natural manner to a fundamentally more satisfactory description of the observations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Hans Laue

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  1. Hans Laue
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Research supported by the NRC.

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Laue, H. The role of position in quantum theory. Found Phys 8, 1–30 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708483

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708483

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