Title: An invitation to operational quantum reference frames
Abstract: Quantum reference frames arise naturally when combining symmetry principles with the universality of quantum theory.
I’ll introduce one recent approach to the subject—the operational approach—and describe the motivation, the framework, some examples and main results. I’ll then indicate how the introduction of a quantum reference frame for a quantum field theory on a background with certain symmetries reduces the type of the von Neumann algebra describing the theory, raising the possibility of computing physically interesting quantities that are unavailable in standard (algebraic) quantum field theories. I’ll conclude with some open directions.