Quantum models of interaction Hamiltonians and their paradoxes
Abstract
In quantum physics it is commonplace to model the interaction of remote systems with a many-body Hamiltonian. Taking such an action-at-a-distance description {\it à la lettre} leads to various paradoxes related to faster-than-light communication and apparent inconsistencies in local energy accounting. It also neglects residual effects, such as entanglement between the remote systems and the mediator that implements the interaction, or the decoherence that arises when the remote systems undergo local evolution. We study simple microscopic quantum models that respect the light cone by design and reproduce two-body Hamiltonians. For these models we quantitatively analyze the residual effects of the microscopic mediator on the remote systems, including dressing of stationary states, and decoherence in the presence of fast local control. We show how the models resolve the paradoxes.
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BibTeX
@misc{gisin2026quantum,
title = {{Quantum models of interaction Hamiltonians and their paradoxes}},
author = {Nicolas Gisin and Serge Massar and Jef Pauwels and Pavel Sekatski},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11618},
eprint = {2609.11618},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11618},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantum models of interaction Hamiltonians and their paradoxes
AU - Nicolas Gisin
AU - Serge Massar
AU - Jef Pauwels
AU - Pavel Sekatski
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11618
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11618
AB - In quantum physics it is commonplace to model the interaction of remote systems with a many-body Hamiltonian. Taking such an action-at-a-distance description {\it à la lettre} leads to various paradoxes related to faster-than-light communication and apparent inconsistencies in local energy accounting. It also neglects residual effects, such as entanglement between the remote systems and the mediator that implements the interaction, or the decoherence that arises when the remote systems undergo local evolution. We study simple microscopic quantum models that respect the light cone by design and reproduce two-body Hamiltonians. For these models we quantitatively analyze the residual effects of the microscopic mediator on the remote systems, including dressing of stationary states, and decoherence in the presence of fast local control. We show how the models resolve the paradoxes.
ER -