Restoring a missing duality in quantum mechanics
Abstract
In conventional quantum mechanics, all unitary evolution takes place within the space-time Hilbert space $\mathcal H_{xt}=L^2(\mathcal M_{xt})$, with time as the sole evolution parameter. The momentum-energy representation $ϕ(k,E)$ is treated merely as a Fourier re-expression of the same state-kinematically equivalent but dynamically inert. Here we restore the fundamental symmetry between the conjugate pairs $(x,t)$ and $(k,E)$ by extending the quantum theory to an enlarged Hilbert space $\mathcal H_{\text{total}} = \mathcal H_{xt} \oplus \mathcal H_{kE}$, within which the momentum-energy sector $\mathcal H_{kE}=L^2(\mathcal M_{kE})$ carries its own autonomous unitary evolution generated by a self-adjoint operator $\hat{\mathcal T}$. The resulting structure establishes a meta-symmetry: a symmetry between two conjugate dynamical projections of a single global quantum state. It produces a dual-manifold geometry in which each domain is locally complete yet globally open, with divergent limits in one mapping onto extended regions in the other. Remarkably, the dual-manifold symmetry alone reproduces both the uniform dark-energy background and the exponential boundary mapping near black-hole horizons that underlies Hawking radiation. This framework thus opens a quantum-theoretic route to cosmological phenomena that are ordinarily treated within general relativity.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect
Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review A
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 4
- Publication date
- 17 March 2026
- Language
- EN