Universal decoherence due to gravitational time dilation

Autor(en)

Igor Pikovski, Magdalena Zych, Fabio Costa, Caslav Brukner

Abstrakt

The physics of low-energy quantum systems is usually studied without explicit consideration of the background spacetime. Phenomena inherent to quantum theory in curved spacetime, such as Hawking radiation, are typically assumed to be relevant only for extreme physical conditions: at high energies and in strong gravitational fields. Here we consider low-energy quantum mechanics in the presence of gravitational time dilation and show that the latter leads to the decoherence of quantum superpositions. Time dilation induces a universal coupling between the internal degrees of freedom and the centre of mass of a composite particle. The resulting correlations lead to decoherence in the particle position, even without any external environment. We also show that the weak time dilation on Earth is already sufficient to affect micrometre-scale objects. Gravity can therefore account for the emergence of classicality and this effect could in principle be tested in future matter-wave experiments.

Organisation(en)

Quantenoptik, Quantennanophysik und Quanteninformation

Externe Organisation(en)

Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Harvard University, University of Queensland

Journal

Nature Physics

Band

11

Seiten

668–672

Anzahl der Seiten

5

ISSN

1745-2473

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3366

Publikationsdatum

08-2015

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103025 Quantenmechanik

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Allgemeine Physik und Astronomie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/986ccb45-390e-4a99-8062-ee5441a0ff56