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Spin Entanglement Witness for Quantum Gravity

Sougato Bose, Anupam Mazumdar, Gavin W. Morley, Hendrik Ulbricht, Marko Toroš, Mauro Paternostro, Andrew A. Geraci, Peter F. Barker, M. S. Kim, and Gerard Milburn
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 240401 – Published 13 December 2017
Physics logo See Synopsis: A Test of Gravity’s Quantum Side
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Abstract

Understanding gravity in the framework of quantum mechanics is one of the great challenges in modern physics. However, the lack of empirical evidence has lead to a debate on whether gravity is a quantum entity. Despite varied proposed probes for quantum gravity, it is fair to say that there are no feasible ideas yet to test its quantum coherent behavior directly in a laboratory experiment. Here, we introduce an idea for such a test based on the principle that two objects cannot be entangled without a quantum mediator. We show that despite the weakness of gravity, the phase evolution induced by the gravitational interaction of two micron size test masses in adjacent matter-wave interferometers can detectably entangle them even when they are placed far apart enough to keep Casimir-Polder forces at bay. We provide a prescription for witnessing this entanglement, which certifies gravity as a quantum coherent mediator, through simple spin correlation measurements.

  • Figure
  • Received 6 September 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.240401

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsAtomic, Molecular & OpticalGeneral Physics

Synopsis

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A Test of Gravity’s Quantum Side

Published 13 December 2017

Two proposals describe how to test whether gravity is inherently quantum by measuring the entanglement between two masses.

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Authors & Affiliations

Sougato Bose1, Anupam Mazumdar2, Gavin W. Morley3, Hendrik Ulbricht4, Marko Toroš4, Mauro Paternostro5, Andrew A. Geraci6, Peter F. Barker1, M. S. Kim7, and Gerard Milburn7,8

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT London, United Kingdom
  • 2Van Swinderen Institute University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, United Kingdom
  • 5CTAMOP, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN Belfast, United Kingdom
  • 6Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno, 89557 Nevada, USA
  • 7QOLS, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
  • 8Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 24 — 15 December 2017

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