Specifying the operational meaning of quantum reference frames
Abstract
In their strongest usage, quantum reference frames have been described as referring to "the measurements performed by a superposed lab", "the perspective of a quantum particle", "the point of view of a superposed observer", etc. While exciting, these operational proposals have remained brief and ambiguous, leading to misinterpretations and criticism. Here, we provide a detailed specification and defense of the notion of a position-superposed lab or observer. We argue that this requires no exotic claims about quantum physics and raises no greater interpretive difficulty than ordinary quantum measurements. We then derive several consequences of taking this operational meaning seriously. We stress that the position-superposed observers that define quantum references frames are different from, and considerably less problematic than, the outcome-superposed observers considered in Wigners' friend scenarios. In particular, we show that outcomes obtained by a position-superposed observer may (without decohering the superposition) be broadcast to a well-localised one, in contrast with Wigner's friend scenarios, which require the outcomes to remain internal to the system at hand. Finally, we defend the possibility to roleplay a quantum reference frame from a classical reference frame.
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BibTeX
@misc{vanrietvelde2026specifying,
title = {{Specifying the operational meaning of quantum reference frames}},
author = {Augustin Vanrietvelde},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
eprint = {2607.03417},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05794278v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Specifying the operational meaning of quantum reference frames
AU - Augustin Vanrietvelde
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/03
PB - HAL
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05794278v1
AB - In their strongest usage, quantum reference frames have been described as referring to "the measurements performed by a superposed lab", "the perspective of a quantum particle", "the point of view of a superposed observer", etc. While exciting, these operational proposals have remained brief and ambiguous, leading to misinterpretations and criticism. Here, we provide a detailed specification and defense of the notion of a position-superposed lab or observer. We argue that this requires no exotic claims about quantum physics and raises no greater interpretive difficulty than ordinary quantum measurements. We then derive several consequences of taking this operational meaning seriously. We stress that the position-superposed observers that define quantum references frames are different from, and considerably less problematic than, the outcome-superposed observers considered in Wigners' friend scenarios. In particular, we show that outcomes obtained by a position-superposed observer may (without decohering the superposition) be broadcast to a well-localised one, in contrast with Wigner's friend scenarios, which require the outcomes to remain internal to the system at hand. Finally, we defend the possibility to roleplay a quantum reference frame from a classical reference frame.
ER -