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arXiv:1811.06947 · International Journal of Modern Physics D

Kinematic spin decoherence of a wave packet in a gravitational field

Yue Dai, Yu Shi

Published Mar 13, 2019• 4 citations
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Abstract

The spin state of a wave packet of a spin-1/2 particle in a gravitational field is a mixed state, obtained by integrating out the momentum degree of freedom. The entropy of this spin mixed state depends on the deviation of spacetime from the flatness. In terms of a succession of local inertial frames, it is shown that spin decoherence occurs even if the particle is uniformly moving or static in a gravitational field.

DOI
10.1142/s0218271819501049

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The spin state of a wave packet of a spin-1/2 particle in a gravitational field is a mixed state, obtained by integrating out the momentum degree of freedom. The entropy of this spin mixed state depends on the deviation of spacetime from the flatness. In terms of a succession of local inertial frames, it is shown that spin decoherence occurs even if the particle is uniformly moving or static in a gravitational field.
The effect of a classical gravitational field on the spin entanglement of a system of two spin- particles moving in the curved spacetime is discussed. The system is described by a two-particle Gaussian wave packet represented in the momentum space and both the acceleration of the system and the curvature of the spacetime produce a Wigner rotation acting on the wave packet as it moves along a path in the curved spacetime. By calculating the reduced density operator at a final point, we focus on the spin entanglement of the system. In a spherically symmetric and static gravitational field, for example a charged black hole, there can be particular paths on which the Wigner rotation is trivial and so the initial reduced density matrix remains intact. This causes the spin entanglement to be invariant during the motion. The spin entanglement descends to zero by increasing the angular velocity of the mean centroid of the system as well as increasing the proper time during which the centroid moves on its circular path around the center.
There has been considerable interest over the past years in investigating the role of gravity in quantum phenomenon such as entanglement and decoherence. In particular, gravitational time dilation is believed to decohere superpositions of center of mass of composite quantum systems. Since true effects of gravity are encoded in the curvature of spacetime, the universality of such decoherence must be characterized through components of Riemann tensor RabcdR_{abcd}Rabcd​, with a clear separation from non-inertial kinematic effects. We obtain the reduced density matrix of a composite system in a generic curved spacetime and express the decoherence time scale explicitly in terms of curvature. The decoherence in an inertial frame is caused by tidal acceleration. We also analyze the effects of self-gravity and show that the coupling of gravitational interaction with external curvature can not be captured by the replacement m→m+Hint/c2m \to m + H_{\rm int}/c^2m→m+Hint​/c2.
We investigate the effect of quantum metric fluctuations on qubits that are gravitationally coupled to a background spacetime. In our first example, we study the propagation of a qubit in flat spacetime whose metric is subject to flat quantum fluctuations with a Gaussian spectrum. We find that these fluctuations cause two changes in the state of the qubit: they lead to a phase drift, as well as the expected exponential suppression (decoherence) of the off-diagonal terms in the density matrix. Although in principle observable, the current state of technology prohibits the experimental demonstration of the phase drift. Second, we calculate the decoherence of a qubit in a circular orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole. The no-hair theorems suggest a quantum state for the metric in which the black hole's mass fluctuates with a thermal spectrum at the Hawking temperature. Again, we find that the orbiting qubit undergoes decoherence and a phase drift that both depend on the temperature of the black hole. Third, we study the interaction of coherent and squeezed gravitational waves with a qubit in uniform motion. Finally, we investigate the decoherence of an accelerating qubit in Minkowski spacetime due to the Unruh effect. In this case decoherence is not due to fluctuations in the metric, but instead is caused by coupling (which we model with a standard Hamiltonian) between the qubit and the thermal cloud of Unruh particles bathing it. When the accelerating qubit is entangled with a stationary partner, the decoherence should induce a corresponding loss in teleportation fidelity.