Momentum entanglement in relativistic quantum mechanics

Abstract

I present a new group-theoretical approach to the interaction mechanism of elementary particle physics. Within an irreducible unitary two-particle representation of the Poincare group, the commutation relations of the Poincare group require that the two-particle states be momentum entangled. As in gauge theories, momentum entanglement defines a correlation between two particles that can be described as an interaction provided by the exchange of virtual (gauge) quanta. The coupling constant of this interaction is uniquely determined by the structure of the irreducible two-particle state space. For two massive spin one-half particles, the coupling constant matches the empirical value of the electromagnetic coupling constant.