arXiv subjects

Elias Okon

Publications and source records attributed to Elias Okon.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Position Operators and Center of Mass: New Perspectives

After reviewing the work of Pryce on Center-of-Mass (CoM) definitions in special relativity, and that of Jordan and Mukunda on position operators for relativistic particles with spin, we propose two new criteria for a CoM candidate: associativity, and compatibility with the Poisson bracket structure. We find that they are not satisfied by all of Pryce's definitions, and they also rule out Dixon's CoM generalization to the curved spacetime case. We also emphasize that the various components of the CoM position do not commute among themselves, in the general case, and thus provide a natural entry point to the arena of noncommutative spacetime, without the ad-hoc assumptions of the standard paradigm.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2010

Does Quantum Mechanics Clash with the Equivalence Principle - and Does it Matter?

With an eye on developing a quantum theory of gravity, many physicists have recently searched for quantum challenges to the equivalence principle of general relativity. However, as historians and philosophers of science are well aware, the principle of equivalence is not so clear. When clarified, we think quantum tests of the equivalence principle won't yield much. The problem is that the clash/not-clash is either already evident or guaranteed not to exist. Nonetheless, this work does help teach us what it means for a theory to be geometric.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2007

Star Product and Invariant Integration for Lie type Noncommutative Spacetimes

We present a star product for noncommutative spaces of Lie type, including the so called ``canonical'' case by introducing a central generator, which is compatible with translations and admits a simple, manageable definition of an invariant integral. A quasi-cyclicity property for the latter is shown to hold, which reduces to exact cyclicity when the adjoint representation of the underlying Lie algebra is traceless. Several explicit examples illuminate the formalism, dealing with kappa-Minkowski spacetime and the Heisenberg algebra (``canonical'' noncommutative 2-plane).

hep-th↗