General-relativistic particle trajectories via quantum mechanical weak values and the Schwarzschild-Alcubierre spacetime
We show that the average trajectories of relativistic quantum particles in Schwarzschild spacetime, obtained via quantum mechanical weak measurements of momentum and energy, are equivalent to the predicted flow lines of probability current in curved spacetime quantum theory. We subsequently demonstrate that these trajectories correspond exactly to classical null geodesics in a hybrid Schwarzschild-Alcubierre spacetime. This threefold equivalence demonstrates how quantum theory in curved spacetime can be formulated via operationally defined measurements, and that such a theory may be interpreted deterministically, in the spirit of hidden-variable models such as Bohmian mechanics, through the novel connection to an underlying ``guiding metric.''
Authors
- Joshua Foo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6435-0187)
- Timothy C. Ralph (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0692-8427)
- Cameron Bellamy
Institutions
- Stevens Institute of Technology (US)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. A/Physical review, A
- Published
- 2025-05-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.111.052201
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Mechanics and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.25
Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, Australian Research Council