Hydrogen is the most dominant atom in the universe and is considered the main component of baryonic matter. Thus far, the quantum features of the unbounded hydrogen atoms in the background of the universe and the possibility of emerging unique quantum effects, such as entanglement on the cosmological scale, have not been considered. In this work, we demonstrate that the dynamical expansion of the universe leads to the emergence of natural entanglement in the hyperfine structure of atomic hydrogen. Our findings reveal that there exists a critical age for the universe where hydrogen atoms naturally build up entanglement, resulting from the expansion of the universe. More precisely, when the universe reaches the age of about 2.5 × 1018 seconds (about 80 billion years old), the hyperfine structure entanglement in hydrogen atoms naturally takes off, demonstrating a peculiar quantum phenomenon known as entanglement sudden birth. This expansion-induced entanglement becomes maximum at about 3.6 × 1018 seconds (about 115 billion years), after the Big Bang. By analyzing the fate of seed atoms formed in the early universe, this study underscores the significance of unique quantum mechanical features, such as entanglement, on cosmological scales. The authors investigate quantum entanglement in the hyperfine structure of the neutral hydrogen atom in thermal equilibrium with the cosmological microwave background radiation. They demonstrate that when the universe is around 80 billion years old, neutral hydrogen atoms begin to form entangled states, displaying a phenomenon known as entanglement sudden birth.
Hydrogen is the most dominant atom in the universe and is considered the main component of baryonic matter. Thus far, the quantum features of the unbounded hydrogen atoms in the background of the universe and the possibility of emerging unique quantum effects, such as entanglement on the cosmological scale, have not been considered. In this work, we demonstrate that the dynamical expansion of the universe leads to the emergence of natural entanglement in the hyperfine structure of atomic hydrogen. Our findings reveal that there exists a critical age for the universe where hydrogen atoms naturally build up entanglement, resulting from the expansion of the universe. More precisely, when the universe reaches the age of about 2.5 × 1018 seconds (about 80 billion years old), the hyperfine structure entanglement in hydrogen atoms naturally takes off, demonstrating a peculiar quantum phenomenon known as entanglement sudden birth. This expansion-induced entanglement becomes maximum at about 3.6 × 1018 seconds (about 115 billion years), after the Big Bang. By analyzing the fate of seed atoms formed in the early universe, this study underscores the significance of unique quantum mechanical features, such as entanglement, on cosmological scales. The authors investigate quantum entanglement in the hyperfine structure of the neutral hydrogen atom in thermal equilibrium with the cosmological microwave background radiation. They demonstrate that when the universe is around 80 billion years old, neutral hydrogen atoms begin to form entangled states, displaying a phenomenon known as entanglement sudden birth.
The spectrum of atomic hydrogen has long been viewed as a Rosetta stone that bears the key to decode the writings of quantum mechanics in a vast variety of physical, chemical, and biological systems. Here, we show that, in addition to its role as a basic model of quantum mechanics, the hydrogen atom provides a fundamental building block of quantum information. Through its electron- and nuclear-spin degrees of freedom, the hydrogen atom is shown to lend a physically meaningful frame and a suitable Hilbert space for bipartite entanglement, the two-qubit concurrence and quantum coherence of which can be expressed in terms of the fundamental physical constants---the Planck and Boltzmann constants, electron and proton masses, the fine-structure constant, as well as the Bohr radius and the Bohr magneton. The intrinsic, natural entanglement that the hyperfine-structure (HFS) states of the H atom store at low temperatures rapidly decreases with a growth in temperature, vanishing above a ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{c}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\approx}5.35\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{eV}$ threshold. An external magnetic field, however, can overcome this thermal loss of HFS entanglement. As one of the central findings of this paper, we show that an external magnetic field can induce and sustain an HFS entanglement, against all the odds of thermal effects, at temperatures well above the ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{c}$ threshold, thus enabling magnetic-field-assisted entanglement engineering in low-temperature gases and solids.
This paper investigates the dynamics of quantum and classical geometric correlations in the hyperfine structure of the hydrogen atom under pure dephasing noise, focusing on the interplay between entangled initial states and environmental effects. We employ the Lindblad master equation to model dephasing, deriving differential equations for the density matrix elements to capture the evolution of the system. The study explores various entangled initial states, characterized by parameters a1, a2, and a3, and their impact on correlation dynamics under different dephasing rates Γ. A trace distance approach is utilized to quantify classical and quantum geometric correlations, offering comparative insights into their behavior. Numerical analysis reveals a transition point where classical and quantum correlations equalize, followed by distinct decay and stabilization phases, influenced by initial coherence along the z-axis. Our results reveal a universal sudden transition from classical to quantum decoherence, consistent with observations in other open quantum systems. They highlight how initial state preparation and dephasing strength critically influence the stability of quantum and classical correlations, with direct implications for quantum metrology and the development of noise-resilient quantum technologies. By focusing on the hyperfine structure of hydrogen, this study addresses a timely and relevant problem, bridging fundamental quantum theory with experimentally accessible atomic systems and emerging quantum applications.
We study kinematics of atoms and molecules in quantum shape dynamics. We analyzed a model universe where there is only electrical force between protons and electrons. In ref. \cite{sd-prl} a similar model where there is only gravitational attraction between masses is investigated. Our results is an expansion of the ideas there. We found that hydrogen atoms can form when they are entangled in singlet pairs. On the other hand if there is single hydrogen atom in the universe, it occupies the entire universe. What is more, in the investigation of hydrogen molecule, we found that absolute spacetime emerges by coarse graining the quantum degrees of freedom. It may be that spacetime only exists because of the presence of quantum degrees of freedom. This is especially important from the quantum gravity perspective.
We investigate the quantum dynamics of entanglement and fidelity in the hyperfine structure of hydrogen atoms under dephasing noise, modeled via the Lindblad master equation. The effective Hamiltonian captures the spin–spin interaction between the electron and proton, with dephasing incorporated through local Lindblad operators. Analytical solutions for the time-dependent density matrix are derived for various initial states, including separable, partially entangled, and maximally entangled configurations. Entanglement is quantified using the concurrence, while fidelity measures the similarity between the evolving state and the initial state. Numerical results demonstrate that entanglement exhibits oscillatory decay modulated by the dephasing rate, with anti-parallel spin states displaying greater robustness compared to parallel configurations, often leading to entanglement sudden death. Fidelity dynamics reveal similar damped oscillations, underscoring the interplay between coherent hyperfine evolution and environmental dephasing. These insights elucidate strategies for preserving quantum correlations in atomic systems, with implications for quantum information processing and metrology.
Introduction Contemporary cosmology includes inflation as one of its central components. It corresponds to a period of accelerated expansion thought to have occurred very early in cosmic history, which takes the universe from relatively generic post Planckian era conditions to a stage where it is well described (with exponential accuracy in the number of e-folds) by a flat Robertson–Walker space-time (which describes a homogeneous and isotropic cosmology). It was initially proposed to resolve various naturalness problems: flatness, horizons, and the excess of massive relic objects, such as topological defects, that were expected to populate the universe according to grand unified theories (GUT). Nowadays, it is lauded because it predicts that the universe's mean density should be essentially identical to the critical value, a very peculiar situation which corresponds to a spatially flat universe. The existing data support this prediction. However, its biggest success is claimed to be the natural account for the emergence of the seeds of cosmic structure in terms of primordial quantum fluctuations, and the correct estimate of the corresponding microwave spectrum. This represents, thus, a situation which requires the combined application of general relativity (GR) and quantum theory, and that, moreover, is tied with observable imprints left from the early universe, in both the radiation in cosmic microwave background (CMB), and in the large scale cosmological structure we can observe today. It should not be surprising that, when dealing with attempts to apply our theories to the universe as a whole, we should come face to face with some of the most profound conceptual problems facing our current physical ideas. In fact, J. Hartle had noted long ago [28] that serious difficulties must be faced when attempting to apply quantum theory to cosmology, although the situations that were envisioned in those early works corresponded to the even more daunting problem of full quantum cosmology, and not the limited use of quantum theory to consider perturbative aspects, which is what is required in the treatment of the inflationary origin of the seeds of cosmic structure. This led him and his collaborators to consider the Consistent Histories framework, which is claimed to offer a version of quantum theory that does not rely on any fundamental notion of measurements, as the favored approach to use in such contexts. We will have a bit more to say about this shortly.
This paper proposes a novel framework, the Cosmic Entanglement Decoherence Map (CEDM), to investigate the potential existence of entanglement across cosmological scales. The core idea revolves around the observation that quantum entanglement, while fragile, might persist within the universe due to specific decoherence mechanisms influenced by the expansion and structure of spacetime. We posit that the decay rate of entanglement, denoted as [D_E(x)], is not uniform across the cosmos, but varies significantly based on factors like gravitational potential, redshift, and the density of dark matter. The framework utilizes cosmic background radiation data as a primary observational tool, aiming to identify patterns in entanglement decoherence. The theoretical implications of this work suggest a potential connection between quantum mechanics and cosmology, with the possibility of influencing future research into the fundamental nature of the universe. This research has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the universe and could be a candidate for a Nobel Prize-winning discovery.