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Fundamental Limit on Angular Measurements and Rotations from Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity

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abstract

We 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 $S_1$ and $S_2$ 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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quant-ph 1

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2024 1

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CONDITIONAL 1

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Doubly Quantum Mechanics

quant-ph · 2024-12-08 · conditional · novelty 6.0

Replacing SU(2) with SU_q(2) turns measurement probabilities into operators and makes reference-frame alignment between two observers fundamentally imprecise even in the limit of infinitely many exchanged spins.

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  • Doubly Quantum Mechanics quant-ph · 2024-12-08 · conditional · none · ref 77 · internal anchor

    Replacing SU(2) with SU_q(2) turns measurement probabilities into operators and makes reference-frame alignment between two observers fundamentally imprecise even in the limit of infinitely many exchanged spins.