We study the limits to the localizability of events and reference frames in the $\kappa$-Minkowski quantum spacetime. Our main tool will be a representation of the $\kappa$-Minkowski commutation relations between coordinates, and the operator and measurement theory borrowed from ordinary quantum mechanics. Spacetime coordinates are described by operators on a Hilbert space, and a complete set of commuting observables cannot contain the radial coordinate and time at the same time. The transformation between the complete sets turns out to be the Mellin transform, which allows us to discuss the localizability properties of states both in space and in time. We then discuss the transformation rules between inertial observers, which are described by the quantum $\kappa$-Poincaré group. These too are subject to limitations in the localizability of states, which impose further restrictions on the ability of an observer to localize events defined in a different observer’s reference frame.

• Received 2 December 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.085003

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Published by the American Physical Society