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Gravitational Decoherence and the Possibility of Its Interferometric Detection

L. Asprea1,2,*, A. Bassi1,2, H. Ulbricht3, and G. Gasbarri3,2,†

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Trieste, Italy
  • 2Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trieste Section, Via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, SO17 1BJ Southampton, United Kingdom

  • *lorenzo.asprea@phd.units.it
  • †g.gasbarri@uab.cat
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 200403 – Published 19 May, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.200403

Abstract

We present a general master equation describing the quantum dynamics of a scalar bosonic field interacting with an external weak and stochastic gravitational field. The dynamics predicts decoherence both in position and in energy momentum. We show how the master equation reproduces, thus generalizing, the previous results in the literature by taking appropriate limits. We estimate the effect of gravitational decoherence in atom interferometers, providing also a straightforward way to assess the magnitude of the effect.

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See Also

Gravitational decoherence: A general nonrelativistic model

L. Asprea, G. Gasbarri, and A. Bassi
Phys. Rev. D 103, 104041 (2021)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 200403– Published 19 May, 2021
  • Received 24 April 2020
  • Revised 10 November 2020
  • Accepted 8 March 2021
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