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arXiv:2501.17928 · Physical Review Letters

Measuring Decoherence due to Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations

Anirudh Gundhi, Hendrik Ulbricht

Published Jun 5, 2025• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The interaction of a particle with vacuum fluctuations-which theoretically exist even in the complete absence of matter-can lead to observable irreversible decoherence if it were possible to switch on and off the particle charge suddenly. We compute the leading order decoherence effect for such a scenario and propose an experimental setup for its detection. Such a measurement might provide further insights into the nature of vacuum fluctuations and a novel precision test for the decoherence theory.

DOI
10.1103/s5c9-zjt9

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The interaction of a particle with vacuum fluctuations-which theoretically exist even in the complete absence of matter-can lead to observable irreversible decoherence if it were possible to switch on and off the particle charge suddenly. We compute the leading order decoherence effect for such a scenario and propose an experimental setup for its detection. Such a measurement might provide further insights into the nature of vacuum fluctuations and a novel precision test for the decoherence theory.
The interference pattern of coherent electrons is effected by coupling to the quantized electromagnetic field. The amplitudes of the interference maxima are changed by a factor which depends upon a double line integral of the photon two-point function around the closed path of the electrons. The interference pattern is sensitive to shifts in the vacuum fluctuations in regions from which the electrons are excluded. Thus this effect combines aspects of both the Casimir and the Aharonov-Bohm effects. The coupling to the quantized electromagnetic field tends to decrease the amplitude of the interference oscillations, and hence is a form of decoherence. The contributions due to photon emission and to vacuum fluctuations may be separately identified. It is to be expected that photon emission leads to decoherence, as it can reveal which path an electron takes. It is less obvious that vacuum fluctuations also can cause decoherence. What is directly observable is a shift in the fluctuations due, for example, to the presence of a conducting plate. In the case of electrons moving parallel to conducting boundaries, the dominant decohering influence is that of the vacuum fluctuations. The shift in the interference amplitudes can be of the order of a few percent, so experimental verification of this effect may be possible. The possibility of using this effect to probe the interior of matter, e.g., to determine the electrical conductivity of a rod by means of electrons encircling it is discussed. (Presented at the Conference on Fundamental Problems in Quantum Theory, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, June 18-22, 1994.)
Vacuum fluctuations can obscure the detection signal of the measurement of the smallest quantum objects like single particles seemingly implying a fundamental limit to measurement accuracy. However, as we show relativistic invariance implies the disappearance of fluctuations for the spacelike spectrum of an observable at zero temperature. This complete absence of noise can be harnessed to perform noiseless measurement of single particles, as we illustrate for electrons or photons. We outline a general scheme to illustrate the noiseless measurement involving the spacelike spectrum of observables based on the self-interference of counterpropagating paths of a single particle in a triangular Sagnac interferometer.
We discuss recent experimental evidence of decoherence in a laboratory mesoscopic system in a cavity, from which we draw analogies with the decoherence that we argue is induced by microscopic quantum-gravity fluctuations in the space-time background. We emphasize the parallel rôles played in both cases by dissipation through non-trivial vacuum fluctuations that trigger the collapse of an initially coherent quantum state. We review a phenomenological parametrization of possible effects of this kind in the neutral kaon system, where they would induce CPT violation, and describe some epxerimental tests.
Abstract We have developed a linearized effective theory with quantum mechanical Gaussian wavepacket of a charged relativistic particle coupled to quantum electromagnetic fields at a scale well below the Schwinger limit. Using this effective theory, we study the quantum decoherence of single electrons at rest due to their interactions with electromagnetic vacuum. According to the existing data of electron interference experiments in electron microscopes, the values of the parameters in our effective theory are chosen. With these values, we find that weak decoherence by vacuum fluctuations may have blurred the interference pattern in Ref. [1].
Open system dynamics of an electron is studied in the presence of radiation field, confined between two parallel conducting pates. It has been suggested in previous works that the quantized zero-point modes of this field lead to finite decoherence effects, possibly due to the Casimir force. However, in this work it is shown that the decoherence found in previous works is due to the sudden switching on of the system-environment interaction and due to the acceleration of the electron enforced by the background paths whose superposition was analyzed. The work discusses important theoretical aspects of the setup and shows that, while coherence might be lost due to bremsstrahlung induced by an external or the image potential, it cannot be lost due to the mere presence of the quantum vacuum fluctuations between the plates.
We describe a new mechanism of decoherence in excited atoms that arise from particle scattering by the atomic nucleus. It is based on the idea that the scattering will produce a sudden displacement of the nucleus which will be perceived by the electron of the atom as an instant shift in the electrostatic potential. This will leave the atom’s wavefunction partially projected into lower-energy states which will lead to the decoherence of the atomic state. The decoherence is calculated to increase with the excitation of the atom, making observations of the effect easier in Rydberg atoms. We estimate the order of the decoherence for photons and massive particles scattering, analyzing several commonly presented scenarios. By maximizing the order of the effect it can be used for detection of weakly-interacting particles, like those which may be the constituents of Dark Matter, through applying very precise atomic spectroscopy.