Spectral decomposition of field operators and causal measurement in quantum field theory

We construct the spectral decomposition of field operators in bosonic quantum field theory as a limit of a strongly continuous family of positive-operator-valued measure decompositions. The latter arise from integrals over families of bounded positive operators. Crucially, these operators have the same locality properties as the underlying field operators. We use the decompositions to construct families of quantum operations implementing measurements of the field observables. Again, the quantum operations have the same locality properties as the field operators. What is more, we show that these quantum operations do not lead to superluminal signaling and are possible measurements on quantum fields in the sense of Sorkin.

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Journal
Journal of Mathematical Physics
Published
2025-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0245368
Primary Topic
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Spectral decomposition of field operators and causal measurement in quantum field theory

Robert Oeckl
Journal of Mathematical Physics
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
article

Spectral decomposition of field operators and causal measurement in quantum field theory

Robert Oeckl
article en

Abstract

We construct the spectral decomposition of field operators in bosonic quantum field theory as a limit of a strongly continuous family of positive-operator-valued measure decompositions. The latter arise from integrals over families of bounded positive operators. Crucially, these operators have the same locality properties as the underlying field operators. We use the decompositions to construct families of quantum operations implementing measurements of the field observables. Again, the quantum operations have the same locality properties as the field operators. What is more, we show that these quantum operations do not lead to superluminal signaling and are possible measurements on quantum fields in the sense of Sorkin.

Journal of Mathematical PhysicsVol. 66(4)
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Openalex Percentile: Top 95%
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
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Spectral decomposition of field operators and causal measurement in quantum field theory — Robert Oeckl · Journal of Mathematical Physics (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS