Localization properties and causality aspects of massless and massive scalar particles

Abstract

Localization properties of scalar single particle states are analyzed by explicit calculational examples with a focus on the massless case. Problems arising from the non-existence of relativistic particle position operators respecting the causal structure of Minkowski spacetime are illustrated by exploring the conflicts arising from localization and causal properties commonly imposed on single particle states. These topics necessitate the introduction of quantum field theoretical localization concepts and are scarcely discussed and often misinterpreted in the literature.