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Loss of coherence of matter-wave interferometer from fluctuating graviton bath

Marko Toroš, Anupam Mazumdar, Sougato Bose

Published Aug 21, 2020• 6 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

In this paper we consider non-relativistic matter-wave interferometer coupled with a quantum graviton bath $\mathord{-}$ and discuss the loss of coherence in the matter sector due to the matter-graviton vertex. First of all, such a process does not lead to any entanglement, but nonetheless the on-shell scattering diagram can lead to loss of coherence as we will show. Importantly, we will show that graviton emission is the only one-vertex Feynman-diagram $\sim\sqrt{G}$ which is consistent with the conservation of energy and momentum at the dominant order $\sim\mathcal{O}(c^{-2})$. We will find that the resulting dephasing is extremely mild and hardly places any constraints on matter-wave interferometers in the mesoscopic regime. In particular, the show that the corresponding loss of coherence in the recently proposed experiment which would test quantum aspects of graviton $\mathord{-}$ via entanglement of two matter-wave interferometers $\mathord{-}$ is completely negligible.

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Loss of coherence and coherence protection from a graviton bath

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The paper presents a scheme to detect entanglement arising from the quantum nature of gravity between a spin qubit and photons, using Stokes parameters. One of the crucial tests of the general theory of relativity is the bending of light due to the curvature. Recently, a quantum counterpart of this experiment to test the quantum nature of the gravitational interaction has been proposed, in which the spin-2, massless graviton yields entanglement between matter and a photon sector. Hence, it provides one of the most crucial experimental signatures for testing the quantum nature of gravity in a lab, since only spin-2-induced entanglement can yield the correct deflection of light due to matter. Here, we propose a positive partial-transpose (PPT) witness criterion for witnessing such an entanglement. We scan the entangled states in this context by studying the overlap of the final state, which is proportional to the entanglement phase. We exploit the Stokes observables to measure the photon state and the spins in the matter sector, thereby constructing a witness for the quantum nature of gravity in this setup. To quantify this entanglement, we will couple the photon to a local oscillator, whose phase need to be controlled to probe the orthogonal components of the macroscopic interference in the laser beam. We have shown that for a non-maximally entangled state mediated by the quantum nature of gravity, the witness attains a maximal negativity of $-0.052$. Our findings indicate that this witness effectively detects entanglement within the range $0.71 \leq |γ| < 1$, where $γ$ is the overlap between the two coherent states of the photon, providing a clear signature of quantum correlations.

quant-pharXiv:2604.24496•Apr 28, 2026•0 citations
In this paper we consider non-relativistic matter-wave interferometer coupled with a quantum graviton bath −\mathord{-}− and discuss the loss of coherence in the matter sector due to the matter-graviton vertex. First of all, such a process does not lead to any entanglement, but nonetheless the on-shell scattering diagram can lead to loss of coherence as we will show. Importantly, we will show that graviton emission is the only one-vertex Feynman-diagram ∼G\sim\sqrt{G}∼G​ which is consistent with the conservation of energy and momentum at the dominant order ∼O(c−2)\sim\mathcal{O}(c^{-2})∼O(c−2). We will find that the resulting dephasing is extremely mild and hardly places any constraints on matter-wave interferometers in the mesoscopic regime. In particular, the show that the corresponding loss of coherence in the recently proposed experiment which would test quantum aspects of graviton −\mathord{-}− via entanglement of two matter-wave interferometers −\mathord{-}− is completely negligible.
We consider a quantum harmonic oscillator coupled with a graviton bath. We discuss the loss of coherence in the matter sector due to the matter-graviton vertex interaction, which leads to a loss of coherence provided that the matter-wave system is allowed to gravitons by the kinematics. Working in the quantum-field-theory framework, we obtain a master equation by tracing away the gravitational field at the leading order ∼O(G) and ∼O(c−2) . We find that the decoherence rate is proportional to the cube of the harmonic trapping frequency and vanishes for a free particle, as expected for a system without a mass quadrupole. Furthermore, our quantum model of graviton emission recovers the known classical formula for gravitational radiation from a classical harmonic oscillator for coherent states with a large occupation number. In addition, we find that the quantum harmonic oscillator eventually settles in a steady state with of the ground and first excited states. While classical emission of gravitational waves would make the harmonic system loose all of its energy, our quantum field theory model does not allow the number states |1⟩ and |0⟩ to decay via graviton emission. In particular, the superposition of number states 12[|0⟩+|1⟩] is a steady state and never decoheres. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
In the context of the QGEM (Quantum Gravity-induced Entanglement of Masses) experiment, we consider two adjacent matter-wave interferometers in linear and parallel configurations that interact solely via gravity. If gravity were quantum, then the two matter-wave interferometers would become entangled via the virtual excitation of the massless graviton. In this paper, we consider witnessing this entanglement by considering a generic experimental scenario where the two interferometers are subject to different global phases and different decoherence rates. In this context, we show that the individual global phases do not affect the witness, discuss common and differential decoherence modes, and perform the parameter search optimal for different masses. We provide a mathematical framework for these asymmetric decoherence rates and then search for parameters that determine the entanglement witness. We have kept the inter-separation distance between the two closest superpositions of the interferometers' masses fixed while varying the experimental time from τ=0.1τ=0.1τ=0.1 s to τ=1τ=1τ=1 s. Finishing the experiment at $ τ=0.1$ s has many advantages from the point of view of protecting the experiment from random acceleration noise. However, witnessing the entanglement also suffers from ⟨W⟩∼−O(10−2)\langle W\rangle \sim -{\cal O}(10^{-2})⟨W⟩∼−O(10−2) for m=10−14m=10^{-14}m=10−14~kg, for decoherence rate in the ranges of O(10−1−1){\cal O}(10^{-1}-1)O(10−1−1)~Hz for τ=0.1τ=0.1τ=0.1 s experiment. However, as we show, increasing the mass of the matter-wave interferometer may improve the witness considerably.
We derive which-path decoherence for matter-wave interferometry that arises from tracing out the gravitons of linearized quantum gravity. Because the gravitons are driven linearly by the matter source, the branch-dependent evolution can be solved exactly, and the reduced coherence is given by the characteristic function of the initial graviton state, evaluated at the difference of the branch-induced field displacements. In vacuum, the decoherence exponent equals half the mean number of gravitons radiated by the difference source. For a smooth Gaussian trajectory, it reduces to Γvac=(8/15) Gm2d4/(ℏc5τ4)Γ_{\rm vac}=(8/15)\,Gm^2d^4/(\hbar c^5τ^4)Γvac​=(8/15)Gm2d4/(ℏc5τ4), ranging from 10−8910^{-89}10−89 to 10−6110^{-61}10−61 across representative matter-wave platforms. For a general squeezed graviton vacuum, we obtain an exact expression in which squeezing either suppresses or enhances the vacuum response, depending on the squeezing phase. For the strongly squeezed state produced by inflation, this expression reduces to Γinf=(π/20) Ωinf(md2H0/ℏ)2Γ_{\rm inf}=(π/20)\,Ω_{\rm inf}(md^2H_0/\hbar)^2Γinf​=(π/20)Ωinf​(md2H0​/ℏ)2 and reaches at most ∼10−27\sim10^{-27}∼10−27 for optimistic parameters. Hence, the which-path decoherence induced by radiative gravitons is therefore negligible in current matter-wave interferometers.
We derive and investigate the reduced dynamics of a nonrelativistic quantum matter system interacting with quantized gravitational waves. Because gravitational radiation couples tidally to the mass quadrupole moment, we emphasize that the leading interaction is quadratic in the mechanical displacement. Rather than treating it as a complication to be removed by linearization, we retain this full quadratic dependence, which gives rise to two-phonon rather single-phonon processes typical in dipolar interactions. We clarify its relation to the effective linear coupling that often appears in optomechanical literature, but which conceals the delicate quantum signatures of the full quadratic coupling. Using the Born-Markov and secular approximations, we microscopically derive Lindblad master equations for the matter dynamics induced by graviton baths in multi-mode vacuum, coherent, number, thermal, and squeezed states. We treat the ultraviolet-divergent Lamb-shift Hamiltonian by an explicit renormalization procedure, with the mechanical frequency identified as the physical frequency. Remarkably, owing to the nature of the interaction, the matter Hilbert space decomposes into even- and odd-parity sectors for all bath states considered. For a coherent graviton bath, the decoherence is identical to that of the vacuum, while the bath one-point function produces a coherent-shift Hamiltonian that exactly reproduces the tidal interaction with a classical gravitational wave. For a vacuum graviton bath, we recover the coherence protection between the two lowest mechanical number states, while number and thermal graviton baths remove this protection and enhance decoherence, although the effect remains small for realistic parameters. By contrast, a squeezed graviton bath enlarges the coupled coherence structure, and gives rise to a novel, coherence-protected sector spanned by dressed dark states.
We identify the phase of a Bargmann invariant of two matter-wave interferometers as a quantum gravity signature that cannot be reproduced by any branchwise-definite classical gravitational field. For matter coupled linearly to linearized gravity, the interferometric coherence factorizes exactly into a conservative Newtonian phase, the characteristic functional of the graviton state, and a commutator phase. For Wigner-positive graviton states, the first two are classically reproducible; therefore, decoherence alone cannot certify that gravity is quantized. The Bargmann phase isolates the commutator, which is independent of the graviton state and of all Newtonian interactions and is bounded by which-path decoherence. For gravity, this radiation-reaction effect is sixty orders of magnitude below experimental reach, but trapped-ion analogs can test it at order unity.
The paper presents a scheme to detect entanglement arising from the quantum nature of gravity between a spin qubit and photons, using Stokes parameters. One of the crucial tests of the general theory of relativity is the bending of light due to the curvature. Recently, a quantum counterpart of this experiment to test the quantum nature of the gravitational interaction has been proposed, in which the spin-2, massless graviton yields entanglement between matter and a photon sector. Hence, it provides one of the most crucial experimental signatures for testing the quantum nature of gravity in a lab, since only spin-2-induced entanglement can yield the correct deflection of light due to matter. Here, we propose a positive partial-transpose (PPT) witness criterion for witnessing such an entanglement. We scan the entangled states in this context by studying the overlap of the final state, which is proportional to the entanglement phase. We exploit the Stokes observables to measure the photon state and the spins in the matter sector, thereby constructing a witness for the quantum nature of gravity in this setup. To quantify this entanglement, we will couple the photon to a local oscillator, whose phase need to be controlled to probe the orthogonal components of the macroscopic interference in the laser beam. We have shown that for a non-maximally entangled state mediated by the quantum nature of gravity, the witness attains a maximal negativity of −0.052-0.052−0.052. Our findings indicate that this witness effectively detects entanglement within the range 0.71≤∣γ∣<10.71 \leq |γ| < 10.71≤∣γ∣<1, where γγγ is the overlap between the two coherent states of the photon, providing a clear signature of quantum correlations.