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arXiv · 1902.09028

Observer-independence in the presence of a horizon

Ian T. Durham
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Abstract

In the famous thought experiment known as Wigner's friend, Wigner assigns an entangled state to the composite quantum system consisting of his friend and her observed system. In the context of this thought experiment, Brukner recently derived a no-go theorem for observer-independent facts, i.e. those facts that would be common to both Wigner and his friend, and initial experimental tests have given it strong support. In this article, we demonstrate a loophole in the theorem that manifests in the presence of a horizon even if Wigner and his friend are on the same side of the horizon. The loophole requires that Wigner and his friend both unambiguously demonstrate that they are in inertial frames. We then argue that unambiguously proving that they are both in inertial frames requires unambiguously proving the existence of Unruh radiation. However, we also argue that if they cannot prove this, then there are still limitations on observer-independent facts that require that some of those facts remain unknowable. As such, observer-independent facts remain illusory.

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Ian T. Durham. 2019-02-24. Observer-independence in the presence of a horizon. https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.09028

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