Born reciprocity and the granularity of spacetime

Abstract

The Schrödinger-Robertson inequality for relativistic position and momentum operators X μ, P ν, μ, ν = 0, 1, 2, 3, is interpreted in terms of Born reciprocity and 'non-commutative' relativistic position-momentum space geometry. For states which saturate the Schrödinger-Robertson inequality, a typology of semiclassical limits is pointed out, characterised by the orbit structure within its unitary irreducible representations, of the full invariance group of Born reciprocity, the so-called 'quaplectic' group U(3, 1) #x2297;s H(3, 1) (the semi-direct product of the unitary relativistic dynamical symmetry U(3, 1) with the Weyl-Heisenberg group H(3, 1)). The example of the 'scalar' case, namely the relativistic oscillator, and associated multimode squeezed states, is treated in detail. In this case, it is suggested that the semiclassical limit corresponds to the separate emergence of spacetime and matter, in the form of the stress-energy tensor, and the quadrupole tensor, which are in general reciprocally equivalent. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.