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arXiv:1101.0888

Comment On "On observation of neutron quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field"

V. K. Ignatovich

Published Jan 5, 2011• 0 citations
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Abstract

It is shown that criticism in the paper: "On observation of neutron quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field." Phys.Rev.D {\bf 81} 052008 (2010) of the experiment with neutrons to observe bound levels in gravity field is not correct.
DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1101.0888

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In the paper by Nesvizhevsky et al. [Phys. Rev. D 67, 102002 (2003)], it is argued that the lowest quantum state of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field has been experimentally identified. While this is most likely correct, it is imperative to investigate all alternative explanations of the result in order to close all loopholes, as it is the first experiment ever claimed to have observed gravitational quantum states. Here we show that geometrical effects in the experimental setup can mimic the results attributed to gravity. Modifications of the experimental setup to close these possible loopholes are suggested.
The experiment performed with ultra-cold neutrons at the Laue-Langevin Institute, Grenoble, is analyzed in view of the claim that ``neutron quantum states in Earth gravitational field'' are observed. Our conclusion is that the above claim is neither theoretically nor experimentally substantiated. We also criticize the statement that ``observation of the gravitationally bound quantum states of neutrons and the related experimental techniques provide a unique tool for a broad range of investigations in fundamental physics of particles and fields''.
Quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field were observed, when ultra-cold neutrons fall under gravity. The experimental results can be described by the quantum mechanical scattering model as it is presented here. We also discuss other geometries of the experimental setup which correspond to the absence or the reversion of gravity. Since our quantum mechanical model describes, particularly, the experimentally realized situation of reversed gravity quantitatively, we can practically rule out alternative explanations of the quantum states in terms of pure confinement effects.
Gravity is the weakest of all four known forces in the universe. Quantum states of an elementary particle due to such a weak field is certainly very shallow and would therefore be an experimental challenge to detect. Recently an experimental attempt was made by V. V. Nesvizhevsky et al., Nature 415, 297 (2002), to measure the quantum states of a neutron, which shows that ground state and few excited states are \sim 10^{-12}eV. We show that the energy of the ground state of a neutron confined above Earth's surface should be \sim 10^{-37}eV. The experimentally observed energy levels are 10^{25} times deeper than the actual energy levels it should be and thus certainly not due to gravitational effect of Earth. Therefore the correct interpretation for the painstaking experimental results of Ref. \cite{nes1} is due to the confinement potential of a one dimensional box of length L \sim 50μm, generated from the experimental setup as commented before \cite{hansoon}. Our results thus creates a new challenge to the experimentalist to resolve the shallow energy levels of the neutron in Earth's gravitational field in future.