6 Bose-Einstein condensates and EPR quantum non-locality

Christoph Ira Westbrook

William J. Mullin, Franck Laloë

In conventional Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky (EPR) experiments that violate local realism, particles are placed in very particular entangled states. We propose here to use two or three spinless Fock-state Bose-Einstein condensates as independent sources in interferometery experiments. While these states do not seem to be entangled, nevertheless we show that interferometers can be constructed that demonstrate a large variety of different violations local reality. We find violations of Bell inequalities, new Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) contradictions, and Hardy impossibilities. These violations continue to arbitrarily large particle numbers. A necessary condition to observe the quantum effects is that all particles should be observed; if some are missed, the quantum effects disappear.

Fabrizio Tafuri, C. A. Perroni, G. De Filippis

Paolo Colciaghi, Yifan Li, Philipp Treutlein +1 more

In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) conceived a Gedankenexperiment which became a cornerstone of quantum technology and still challenges our understanding of reality and locality today. While the experiment has been realized with small quantum systems, a demonstration of the EPR paradox with spatially separated, massive many-particle systems has so far remained elusive. We observe the EPR paradox in an experiment with two spatially separated Bose-Einstein condensates containing about 700 Rubidium atoms each. EPR entanglement in conjunction with individual manipulation of the two condensates on the quantum level, as demonstrated here, constitutes an important resource for quantum metrology and information processing with many-particle systems. Our results show that the conflict between quantum mechanics and local realism does not disappear as the system size is increased to over a thousand massive particles.

Paolo Colciaghi, Yifan Li, Philipp Treutlein +1 more

In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) conceived a gedanken experiment which became a cornerstone of quantum technology and still challenges our understanding of reality and locality today.While the experiment has been realized with small quantum systems, a demonstration of the EPR paradox with massive many-particle systems remains an important challenge, as such systems are particularly closely tied to the concept of local realism in our everyday experience and may serve as probes for new physics at the quantum-to-classical transition.In this work we report an EPR experiment with two spatially separated Bose-Einstein condensates, each containing about 700 rubidium atoms.Entanglement between the condensates results in strong correlations of their collective spins, allowing us to demonstrate the EPR paradox between them.Our results represent the first observation of the EPR paradox with spatially separated, massive many-particle systems.They show that the conflict between quantum mechanics and local realism does not disappear as the system size increases to more than a thousand massive particles.Furthermore, EPR entanglement in conjunction with individual manipulation of the two condensates on the quantum level, as we demonstrate here, constitutes an important resource for quantum metrology and information processing with many-particle systems.

Joseph V. Pulé