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Fundamental limit on angular measurements and rotations from quantum mechanics and general relativity
Version 2 2023-06-12, 08:13
Version 1 2023-06-10, 02:01
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 08:13 authored by Xavier CalmetXavier Calmet, Stephen D H HsuWe show that the precision of an angular measurement or rotation (e.g., on the orientation of a qubit or spin state) is limited by fundamental constraints arising from quantum mechanics and general relativity (gravitational collapse). The limiting precision is r-1 in Planck units, where r is the physical extent of the (possibly macroscopic) device used to manipulate the spin state. This fundamental limitation means that spin states S1 and S2 cannot be experimentally distinguished from each other if they differ by a sufficiently small rotation. Experiments cannot exclude the possibility that the space of quantum state vectors (i.e., Hilbert space) is fundamentally discrete, rather than continuous. We discuss the implications for finitism: does physics require infinity or a continuum?
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Physics Letters BISSN
0370-2693Publisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
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823Page range
1-4Article number
a136763Department affiliated with
- Physics and Astronomy Publications
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2021-12-16First Open Access (FOA) Date
2021-12-16First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2021-12-15Usage metrics
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