On the description of subsystems in relativistic hypersurface Bohmian mechanics

Abstract

A candidate for a realistic relativistic quantum theory is the hypersurface Bohm-Dirac model. Its formulation uses a foliation of space-time into spacelike hypersurfaces. In order to apply the theory and to make contact with the usual quantum formalism, one needs a framework for the description of subsystems. The presence of spin together with the foliation renders the subsystem description more complicated than in the non-relativistic case with spin. In this paper, we provide such a framework in terms of an appropriate conditional density matrix and an effective wave function as well as clarify their relation, thereby generalizing previous subsystem descriptions in the non-relativistic case. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.