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arXiv:1409.4235 · Scientific Reports

Motion and gravity effects in the precision of quantum clocks

Joel Lindkvist, Carlos Sabín, Göran Johansson, Ivette Fuentes

Published May 19, 2015• 15 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that motion and gravity affect the precision of quantum clocks. We consider a localised quantum field as a fundamental model of a quantum clock moving in spacetime and show that its state is modified due to changes in acceleration. By computing the quantum Fisher information we determine how relativistic motion modifies the ultimate bound in the precision of the measurement of time. While in the absence of motion the squeezed vacuum is the ideal state for time estimation, we find that it is highly sensitive to the motion-induced degradation of the quantum Fisher information. We show that coherent states are generally more resilient to this degradation and that in the case of very low initial number of photons, the optimal precision can be even increased by motion. These results can be tested with current technology by using superconducting resonators with tunable boundary conditions.

DOI
10.1038/srep10070

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We show that motion and gravity affect the precision of quantum clocks. We consider a localised quantum field as a fundamental model of a quantum clock moving in spacetime and show that its state is modified due to changes in acceleration. By computing the quantum Fisher information we determine how relativistic motion modifies the ultimate bound in the precision of the measurement of time. While in the absence of motion the squeezed vacuum is the ideal state for time estimation, we find that it is highly sensitive to the motion-induced degradation of the quantum Fisher information. We show that coherent states are generally more resilient to this degradation and that in the case of very low initial number of photons, the optimal precision can be even increased by motion. These results can be tested with current technology by using superconducting resonators with tunable boundary conditions.
We investigate the ultimate estimation precision, characterized by the quantum Fisher information, of a two-level atom as a detector which is coupled to massless scalar field in the Minkowski vacuum. It has been shown that for an inertial detector moving with a constant velocity, its quantum Fisher information is completely unaffected by the velocity, however, it still decays over time due to the decoherence caused by the interaction between the atom and the field. In addition, for a uniformly accelerated detector (w=0w=0w=0) moving along spatially straight line, the accelerated motion will reduce the quantum Fisher information in the estimation of state parameters. However, when the detector trajectory is generated by a combination of the linear accelerated motion and a component of the four-velocity $w=dy/d\ensuremath{\tau}$, we find quite unlike the previous results that, for the nonrelativistic case ($w\ensuremath{\ll}1$), the acceleration could degrade the quantum Fisher information, while the four-velocity component will suppress the degradation of the quantum Fisher information, and thus could enhance the precision of parameters estimation. Furthermore, in the case for ultrarelativistic velocities $(w\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty})$, although the detector still interacts with the environment, it behaves as if it were a closed system as a consequence of relativity correction associated to the velocity, and the quantum Fisher information in this case can be shielded from the effect of the external environment, and thus from the relativistic motion.
It is expected that a quantum theory of gravity will radically alter our current notion of spacetime geometry. However, contrary to what was commonly assumed for many decades, quantum gravity effects could manifest in scales much larger than the Planck scale, provided that there is enough coherence in the superposition of geometries. Quantum clocks, i.e. quantum mechanical systems whose internal dynamics can keep track of proper time lapses, are a very promising tool for probing such low-energy quantum gravity effects. In this work, we contribute to this subject by proposing a spacetime-covariant formalism to describe clocks in first quantization. In particular, we account for the possibility of dynamically accelerated clocks via suitable couplings with external fields. We find that a particular decomposition of the (quadratic) clock Hamiltonian into positive- and negative-mass sectors, when attainable, enables one to compute the evolution of the system directly in terms of the clock's proper time while maintaining explicit covariance. When this decomposition is possible, the evolution obtained is always unitary, even with couplings with external fields used to, e.g., accelerate the clocks. We then apply this formulation to compute the joint time evolution of a pair of quantum clocks in two cases: (i) inertial clocks with relative motion and (ii) charged clocks accelerated by a uniform magnetic field. In both cases, when our clocks are prepared in coherent states, we find that the density matrix ρτ2∣τ1ρ_{τ_2|τ_1}ρτ2​∣τ1​​ describing time-measurements of the two clocks yields not only conditional probabilities whose peaks match exactly the classical expected values for time dilation, but also yields coherent quantum fluctuations around that peak, with a profile which is either (i) a pure Gaussian or (ii) a Gaussian combined with a periodic modulation.
Abstract It has recently been reported that, under an operational definition of time, quantum clocks would get entangled through gravitational effects. Here, an alternative scenario is studied: The clocks have different masses and energy gaps, which would produce time differences via gravitational interaction. The proposal of quantum clock synchronization (QCS) for the gravity‐induced time difference is discussed. It is illustrated how the stability of measurement probability in the QCS proposal is influenced by the gravitational interaction induced by the clocks themselves. It is found that the precision of clock synchronization depends on the energy gaps of the clocks and the improvement of precision in quantum metrology is in fact an indicator of entanglement generation. The quantum enhanced estimation of time difference is also presented and it is found that the quantum Fisher information is very sensitive to the distance between the clocks.
The quantum space-time model which accounts material Reference Frames (RF) quantum effects considered for flat space-time and ADM canonical gravity. As was shown by Aharonov for RF - free material object its c.m. nonrelativistic motion in vacuum described by Schrodinger wave packet evolution which modify space coordinate operator of test particle in this RF and changes its Heisenberg uncertainty relations. In the relativistic case we show that Lorentz transformations between two RFs include the quantum corrections for RFs momentum uncertainty and in general can be formulated as the quantum space-time transformations. As the result for moving RF its Lorentz time boost acquires quantum fluctuations which calculated solving relativistic Heisenberg equations for the quantum clocks models. It permits to calculate RF proper time for the arbitrary RF quantum motion including quantum gravity metrics fluctuations. Space-time structure of canonical Quantum Gravity and its observables evolution for RF proper time discussed in this quantum space-time transformations framework.
In this thesis we shall apply techniques from quantum information theory to the problem of measuring the structure of spacetime or equivalently measuring the gravitational field. In turn we will also look at how acceleration may effect quantum information techniques for processing and transmitting information. Measuring the structure of spacetime is a slight abuse of terminology as spacetime structure is not directly observable. We will be investigating the estimation of spacetime structure by making measurements on quantum systems which depend on the spacetime background. The structure of spacetime and the gravitational field will be treated in accordance with Einstein's general theory of relativity. This is currently the most accurately tested classical theory for gravity. It is widely believed that fundamentally, gravity should be treated within the framework of quantum mechanics, just like the other forces of nature. This is yet to be seen experimentally and a theory capable of falsifiable predictions is yet to be found. In this thesis we shall focus on the effects of gravity at the classical level, however we shall treat matter and non-gravitational energy using quantum mechanics. When looking at how gravity effects quantum information we will specifically be focusing on the simple case of acceleration, yet we shall treat it in this relativistic spacetime context. Knowing the structure of spacetime in general relativity amounts to knowing an object called the metric tensor. This object contains all the information about a spacetime. This may include local curvature, for instance around a star or black hole, gravitational radiation coming from a binary pulsar and even the large scale structure of the universe such as the rate of expansion. By performing local experiments one may attempt to extract this information. Fundamentally these experiments will be governed by quantum mechanics, hence the accuracy of the estimation will be fundamentally limited by the statistical nature of quantum theory. In this thesis we shall develop an equation which states just what accuracy one can ultimately achieve when attempting to measure the structure of spacetime. This equation will be shown to be a generalisation of known results for the accuracy to which one can ultimately measure position and momentum as well as time and energy. The result will be applied to a range of relativistic phenomena including acceleration in flat spacetime, the local curvature around a black hole, the amplitude of a gravitational wave and the expansion of the universe in a cosmological model. Following the use of quantum information theory to investigate gravity we shall look at how acceleration can effect quantum information. Firstly we shall see how quantum entanglement can be created and stored between two optical cavities when one is uniformly accelerating. This is in contrast to a number of results which predict that entanglement will be lost in the presence of acceleration. This loss of entanglement is predicted due to an as yet unobserved phenomena known as the Unruh effect. The Unruh effect states that an observer uniformly accelerating will see a thermal distribution of particles even if an inertial observer will see no particles at all. We will show how the use of optical cavities can prevent this effect from causing problems both for the storage and creation of entanglement. Finally we shall look at how a particular quantum detection scheme can be employed in the presence of acceleration. Our technique will emphasis the importance of locality, that is the localisation of physics in spacetime. We will also show how some commonly used approximations used to study the Unruh effect, can be avoided with our new formulation.
The quantum space-time model which accounts material Reference Frames (RF) quantum effects considered for flat space-time and ADM canonical gravity. As was shown by Aharonov for RF - free material object its c.m. nonrelativistic motion in vacuum described by Schrodinger wave packet evolution which modify space coordinate operator of test particle in this RF and changes its Heisenberg uncertainty relations. In the relativistic case we show that Lorentz transformations between two RFs include the quantum corrections for RFs momentum uncertainty and in general can be formulated as the quantum space-time transformations. As the result for moving RF its Lorentz time boost acquires quantum fluctuations which calculated solving relativistic Heisenberg equations for the quantum clocks models. It permits to calculate RF proper time for the arbitrary RF quantum motion including quantum gravity metrics fluctuations. Space-time structure of canonical Quantum Gravity and its observables evolution for RF proper time discussed in this quantum space-time transformations framework.