2021/06/15 by Onur Hosten, Hosten, Onur · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2106.08221
openalex publication_date 2021/06/15 · openalex created_date 2022/07/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Finding a feasible scheme for testing the quantum mechanical nature of the gravitational interaction has been attracting an increasing level of attention. Gravity mediated entanglement generation so far appears to be the key ingredient for a potential experiment. In a recent proposal [D. Carney et al., Phys. Rev. X Quantum 2, 030330 (2021)] combining an atom interferometer with a low-frequency mechanical oscillator, a coherence revival test is proposed for verifying this entanglement generation. With measurements performed only on the atoms, this protocol bypasses the need for correlation measurements. Here we explore formulations of such a protocol, and specifically find that in the envisioned regime of operation with high thermal excitation, semi-classical models, where there is no concept of entanglement, also give the same experimental signatures. We elucidate in a fully quantum mechanical calculation that entanglement is not the source of the revivals in the relevant parameter regime. We argue that, in its current form, the suggested test is only relevant if the oscillator is nearly in a pure quantum state, and in this regime the effects are too small to be measurable. We further discuss potential open ends. The results highlight the importance and subtleties of explicitly considering how the quantum case differs from the classical expectations when testing for the quantum mechanical nature of a physical system.