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Consider a particle in a frame moving with speed $v$ relative to the lab frame. By Lorentz contraction, the width of the wavefunction will be smaller in the lab frame, resulting in smaller $\Delta x$. If $v$ is high enough, then the uncertainty principle $\Delta x \Delta p \ge \hbar/2$ will be violated in the lab frame.

What's wrong here? Does $\Delta p$ increase somehow? This seems unlikely, since simply translating momentum distribution by a constant should not alter the standard deviation.

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    $\begingroup$ $p=\gamma m v$. That's very basic special relativity. If you make all the momenta bigger, you make the standard deviation bigger. Try it: find the standard deviation of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 vs. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. $\endgroup$
    – Bill N
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 17:08
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    $\begingroup$ But we are adding a constant value to p, not multiplying every value by a constant. 1,2,3,4,5 vs 2,3,4,5,6 have the same standard deviation! Let's say that in the particle's co-moving frame the momentum is distributed symmetrically around p=0. The values of momentum in the lab frame should be distributed also symmetrically but around $p=\gamma mv$, where v is the relative speed of the frames. So I don't understand your reasoning why $\Delta p$ should increase. $\endgroup$
    – Oti
    Commented Sep 15, 2016 at 18:42
  • $\begingroup$ No. When you increase v you also increase $\gamma$, and that's a multiplicative change to p. $\endgroup$
    – Bill N
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 21:14
  • $\begingroup$ +1: Interesting question! I presume that a satisfactory answer cannot come from simple QM and I am not exactly clear on how this question gets translated into QFT (and back). $\endgroup$
    – user87745
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 9:10
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    $\begingroup$ Wave function in QFT is invariant under such a transformation, which means there shouldn't be a problem like that. In non relativistic QM theory you will get a wrong answer. $\endgroup$
    – Paradoxy
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 10:24

2 Answers 2

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You're trying to apply relativity (Lorentz contraction) to a result from nonrelativistic quantum mechanics (Heisenberg uncertainty), so of course you get a contradiction.

In nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, the effect of a boost is given by the Galilean transformation $$\psi(x) \to \exp((im/\hbar) (vx + v^2t/2))\, \psi(x-vt)$$ as explained in more detail here. You can verify by explicit calculation that this shifts position eigenvalues as $$x \to x-vt$$ and shifts momentum eigenvalues by $$p \to p-mv$$ as expected classically. Since both position and momentum are simply shifted, $\Delta x \Delta p$ stays the same, and the uncertainty principle is preserved.

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    $\begingroup$ But the question is about what happens in relativistic theory, you did not address that. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 0:07
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    $\begingroup$ I agree that this is how the question of boost should be handled in proper QM. However, I am a bit puzzled as to how to translate this question into QFT and back. $\endgroup$
    – user87745
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 9:16
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With apologies for the many typos (and worse) in the first version of this answer:

Write the wave function as $f(x)$ in the comoving frame. Then in the lab frame, the wave function is $g(x)=\sqrt{a}f(ax)$ where $a$ is some positive constant.

Write $\hat{f}(x)$ for the Fourier transform of $f$. Then $\hat{g}(x)=\hat{f}(x/a)/\sqrt{a}$.

The change in frame changes the variance of position from $\int x^2 |f(x)|^2$ to $\int x^2 |g(x)|^2$, which means the variance is multiplied by $1/a^2$. (Check this by substituting $u=a x$ in the second integral.)

The change in frame changes the variance of momentum from $\int x^2|\hat{f}(x)|^2$ to $\int x^2 |\hat{g}(x)|^2$, which means the variance is multiplied by $a^2$. (Check this by substituting $u=x/a$ in the second integral.)

The product of the variances is therefore unchanged.

While I hope the above is enlightening, it's really unnecessary. The key is that $f$ is some arbitrary wave function and $g$ is some other wave function. Some argument must have convinced you that $f$ satisfies the uncertainty principle in the first place. Whatever that argument is, it applies equally well to $g$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Why is $/Delta x$ larger in the lab frame? Shouldn't it be smaller due to Lorentz contraction? The uncertainty relation should be preserved in the lab frame, i.e. $/Delta x' /Delta p' = /Delta x /Delta p /ge 1/2$. $\endgroup$
    – Oti
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 1:46
  • $\begingroup$ This is very strange. The momentum distribution after a boost should be a shifted version of the original momentum distribution. Under your reasoning, a boost would change the momentum of a plane wave by a multiplicative factor, rather than simply adding a constant to it. $\endgroup$
    – knzhou
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 5:17
  • $\begingroup$ @knzhou: I understand your concern --- but do you see a problem with the math? $\endgroup$
    – WillO
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 5:19
  • $\begingroup$ The math looks right, but I'm not convinced that this is the right relationship between the lab and boosted wavefunctions. The Schrodinger equation is not relativistic. $\endgroup$
    – knzhou
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 5:20
  • $\begingroup$ @knzhou: I am comparing the frames of two observers, in the same place at the same time, in relative motion with respect to each other --- and I am assuming a wave function that does not vary with time. Does that help? I do agree that if the wave function is changing over time, things are probably more complicated. $\endgroup$
    – WillO
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 5:22

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