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arXiv:0812.3052

Dephasing of entangled atoms as an improved test of quantum gravity

Mark S. Everitt, Martin L. Jones, Benjamin T. H. Varcoe

Published Dec 16, 2008• 2 citations
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Abstract

In a recent article Wang et al. (Class. Quantum Grav. 23 (2006) L59), demonstrated that the phase of a particle fluctuates due to interactions with random deviations of a conformal gravitational field. Furthermore they demonstrated that atom interferometers are sensitive to these fluctuations and that sensitivity to Planck scale effects could be achieved with a sufficiently sensitive interferometer. In this paper we demonstrate that a class of entangled states, the N-atom Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, provide a better scaling than atom interferometers and that current experiments are capable of making a significant impact in this field. We outline an experiment which uses atomic beams of rubidium atoms excited to Rydberg states. The atoms undergo controlled collisions in high quality factor microwave resonators in a sequence that makes the resulting state highly sensitive to conformal field fluctuations. We show that a significant advance in sensitivity is possible.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.0812.3052

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In a recent article Wang et al. (Class. Quantum Grav. 23 (2006) L59), demonstrated that the phase of a particle fluctuates due to interactions with random deviations of a conformal gravitational field. Furthermore they demonstrated that atom interferometers are sensitive to these fluctuations and that sensitivity to Planck scale effects could be achieved with a sufficiently sensitive interferometer. In this paper we demonstrate that a class of entangled states, the N-atom Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, provide a better scaling than atom interferometers and that current experiments are capable of making a significant impact in this field. We outline an experiment which uses atomic beams of rubidium atoms excited to Rydberg states. The atoms undergo controlled collisions in high quality factor microwave resonators in a sequence that makes the resulting state highly sensitive to conformal field fluctuations. We show that a significant advance in sensitivity is possible.
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One of the biggest unsolved problems in physics is the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity. The lack of experimental guidance has made the issue extremely evasive, though various attempts have been made to relate the loss of matter wave coherence to quantum spacetime fluctuations. We present a new approach to the gravitational decoherence near the Planck scale, made possible by the recently discovered conformal structure of canonical gravity. This leads to a gravitational analogue of Brownian motion whose correlation length is given by the Planck length up to a scaling factor. With input from recent matter wave experiments, we show the minimum value of this factor to be well within the expected range for quantum gravity theories. This suggests that the sensitivities of advanced matter wave interferometers may be approaching the fundamental level due to quantum spacetime fluctuations, and that investigating Planck scale physics using matter wave interferometry may become a reality in the near future.
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One of the biggest unsolved problems in physics is the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity. The lack of experimental guidance has made the issue extremely evasive, though various attempts have been made to relate the loss of matter wave coherence to quantum spacetime fluctuations. We present a new approach to the gravitational decoherence near the Planck scale, made possible by recently discovered conformal structure of canonical gravity. This leads to a gravitational analogue of the Brownian motion whose correlation length is given by the Planck length up to a scaling factor. With input from recent matter wave experiments, we show that the minimum value of this factor to be well within the expected range for quantum gravity theories. This suggests that the sensitivities of advanced matter wave interferometers may be approaching the fundamental level due to quantum spacetime fluctuations and that investigating Planck scale physics using matter wave interferometry may become a reality in the near future. Physics on the large scale is based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR), which interprets gravity as the curvature of spacetime. Despite its tremendous success as an isolated
It is discussed how systems of quantum-correlated (entangled)particles or atoms behave in external gravitational fields and what gravitational effects may exist in such systems. An experimental setup is proposed which improves the sensitivity of the Ramsey interferometer by the usage of quantum-correlated atoms. Entanglement of nnn atoms improves the sensitivity to small phase shifts in n2n^2n2 times. This scheme may be used for observing gravity-induced phase shifts in laboratory.
Quantum-enhanced metrology is boosting interferometer sensitivities to extraordinary levels, up to the point where table-top experiments have been proposed to measure Planck-scale effects predicted by quantum gravity theories. In setups involving multiple photon interferometers, as those for measuring the so-called holographic fluctuations, entanglement provides substantial improvements in sensitivity. Entanglement is however a fragile resource and may be endangered by decoherence phenomena. We analyze how noisy effects arising either from the weak coupling to an external environment or from the modification of the canonical commutation relations in photon propagation may affect this entanglement-enhanced gain in sensitivity.