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American Journal of Physics -- September 1990 -- Volume 58, Issue 9, pp. 826

The Bohr–Einstein ‘‘weighing‐of‐energy’’ debate and the principle of equivalence

Richard J. Hughes

University of California, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Physics Division, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545

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The Bohr–Einstein debate over the ‘‘weighing of energy’’ and the validity of the time–energy uncertainty relation is reexamined in the context of gravitation theories that do not respect the equivalence principle. Bohr’s use of the equivalence principle is shown to be sufficient, but not necessary, to establish the validity of this uncertainty relation in Einstein’s ‘‘weighing‐of‐energy’’ gedanken experiment. The uncertainty relation is shown to hold in any energy‐conserving theory of gravity, and so a failure of the equivalence principle does not engender a failure of quantum mechanics. The relationship between the gravitational redshift and the equivalence principle is reviewed.

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

QUANTUM MECHANICS, UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, GRAVITATION, RED SHIFT, EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE

PACS

  • 03.65.Ta

    Foundations of quantum mechanics; measurement theory

  • 04.20.Cv

    Fundamental problems and general formalism

History
Received Aug 1989
Accepted Dec 1989

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0002-9505 (print)  

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.16374


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