Operator-Level Quantum-Classical Correspondence in Relativistic Quantum Theory and Curved Spacetime

Abstract:In a recent work \cite{Shaikh:2026nsi}, it was shown that for a non-relativistic particle, the operator equations of motion can be cast in the same differential form as Newton's equation of motion. This establishes a correspondence between quantum operator dynamics and classical mechanics at the level of the equations of motion. In this work, we investigate whether this correspondence extends to quantum field theory and linearized gravity. We explicitly show that the Heisenberg equations of motion for quantum field operators reproduce the corresponding classical equations of motion for a broad class of field theories. The Klein-Gordon equation, Maxwell's equations, Yang-Mills equations, and linearized Einstein equations are shown to arise at the operator level without taking the limit $\hbar\rightarrow0$. We then extend the analysis to curved spacetime and show that the quantum field operators satisfy the corresponding covariant field equations at the operator level. In the weak-field approximation, we show that the Heisenberg evolution of the metric-perturbations reproduces the linearized Einstein equations at the operator level. For a quantum particle in curved spacetime, the Heisenberg equations for position and momentum reproduce classical geodesic motion in the semiclassical limit, thereby extending the operator-level quantum-classical correspondence from fields to particle dynamics.

arXiv:2609.25360 [gr-qc]

(or arXiv:2609.25360v1 [gr-qc] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.25360 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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