Direct interaction along light cones at the quantum level

Abstract

Here, we point out that interactions with time delay can be described at the quantum level using a multi-time wave function $\psi(x_1,...,x_N)$, i.e., a wave function depending on one spacetime variable $x_i = (t_i,\mathbf{x}_i)$ per particle. In particular, such a wave function makes it possible to implement direct interaction along light cones (not mediated by fields), as in the Wheeler-Feynman formulation of electrodynamics. Our results are as follows. (1) We derive a covariant two-particle integral equation and discuss it in detail. (2) It is shown how this integral equation (or equivalently, a system of two integro-differential equations) can be understood as defining the time evolution of $\psi$ in a consistent way. (3) We demonstrate that the equation has strong analogies with Wheeler-Feynman electrodynamics and therefore suggests a possible new quantization of that theory. (4) We propose two natural ways how the two-particle equation can be extended to $N$ particles. It is shown that exactly one of them leads to the usual Schr\"odinger equation with Coulomb-type pair potentials if time delay effects are neglected.