Quantum Tests of the Einstein Equivalence Principle with the STE-QUEST Space Mission

Abstract

We present in detail the scientific objectives in fundamental physics of the Space-Time Explorer and QUantum Equivalence Space Test (STE-QUEST) space mission. STE-QUEST was pre-selected by the European Space Agency together with four other missions for the cosmic vision M3 launch opportunity planned around 2024. It carries out tests of different aspects of the Einstein Equivalence Principle using atomic clocks, matter wave interferometry and long distance time/frequency links, providing fascinating science at the interface between quantum mechanics and gravitation that cannot be achieved, at that level of precision, in ground experiments. We especially emphasize the specific strong interest of performing equivalence principle tests in the quantum regime, i.e. using quantum atomic wave interferometry. Although STE-QUEST was finally not selected in early 2014 because of budgetary and technological reasons, its science case was very highly rated. Our aim is to expose that science to a large audience in order to allow future projects and proposals to take advantage of the STE-QUEST experience.

arXiv comment27 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Advances in Space Research

References in corpus (91)

• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
• Detection of the Baryon Acoustic Peak in the Large-Scale Correlation Function of SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies
• 4D Gravity on a Brane in 5D Minkowski Space
• Extended Theories of Gravity
• A Phantom Menace? Cosmological consequences of a dark energy component with super-negative equation of state
• Introduction to Modified Gravity and Gravitational Alternative for Dark Energy
• Cosmology and the Fate of Dilatation Symmetry
• An alternative to quintessence
• Lorentz-Violating Extension of the Standard Model
• A direct empirical proof of the existence of dark matter
• Baryonic Features in the Matter Transfer Function
• The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton
• Generalized Chaplygin Gas, Accelerated Expansion and Dark Energy-Matter Unification
• A Dynamical Solution to the Problem of a Small Cosmological Constant and Late-time Cosmic Acceleration
• Essentials of k-essence
• CPT Violation and the Standard Model
• Chameleon Fields: Awaiting Surprises for Tests of Gravity in Space
• Chameleon Cosmology
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• New Constraints on ${\Omega }_M$, ${\Omega }_{\Lambda }$, and w from an Independent Set of Eleven High-Redshift Supernovae Observed with HST
• Kinetically Driven Quintessence
• Data Tables for Lorentz and CPT Violation
• Gravity, Lorentz Violation, and the Standard Model
• The String Dilaton and a Least Coupling Principle
• Quintessence and the Rest of the World
• Noncommutative Field Theory and Lorentz Violation
• Unification of Dark Matter and Dark Energy: the Inhomogeneous Chaplygin Gas
• Nonstandard optics from quantum spacetime
• Brane-World Gravity
• Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law
• Supernova Limits on the Cosmic Equation of State
• Test of the Equivalence Principle Using a Rotating Torsion Balance
• Quantum Gravity in Everyday Life: General Relativity as an Effective Field Theory
• Progress in Lunar Laser Ranging Tests of Relativistic Gravity
• Large and infinite extra dimensions
• Higgs inflation: consistency and generalisations
• Electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of arbitrary dimension
• Detecting Dark Energy in Orbit -- the Cosmological Chameleon
• Signals for Lorentz Violation in Post-Newtonian Gravity
• CPT Violation Implies Violation of Lorentz Invariance
• Cosmological-Parameter Determination with Microwave Background Maps
• Interferometry with Bose-Einstein Condensates in Microgravity
• Microwave Background Constraints on Cosmological Parameters
• A discriminating probe of gravity at cosmological scales
• Detecting inertial effects with airborne matter-wave interferometry
• Constraints on Lorentz violation from clock-comparison experiments
• Testing General Relativity with Atom Interferometry
• Matter-gravity couplings and Lorentz violation
• Loop quantum gravity and light propagation
• Quantum Test of the Universality of Free Fall
• Atomic Interferometer with Amplitude Gratings of Light and its Applications to Atom Based Tests of the Equivalence Principle
• Equivalence Principle Violations and Couplings of a Light Dilaton
• Neutrinos with Lorentz-violating operators of arbitrary dimension
• Millimetre-Range Forces in Superstring Theories with Weak-Scale Compactification
• Test of Einstein Equivalence Principle for 0-spin and half-integer-spin atoms: Search for spin-gravity coupling effects
• Constraints on Torsion from Lorentz Violation
• Nonrelativistic Quantum Hamiltonian for Lorentz Violation
• Prospects for Large Relativity Violations in Matter-Gravity Couplings
• Toward Understanding CMB Anisotropies and Their Implications
• Spacetime-varying couplings and Lorentz violation
• Macroscopic Forces from Supersymmetry
• Lorentz violation with an antisymmetric tensor
• Low-energy Limits on the Antisymmetric Tensor Field Background on the Brane and on the Non-commutative Scale
• Probing Lorentz and CPT violation with space-based experiments
• Cold Atom Clock Test of Lorentz Invariance in the Matter Sector
• Simultaneous Dual-Species Matter-Wave Accelerometer
• Strong Limit on a Variable Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio from Molecules in the Distant Universe
• Tidal Tails Test the Equivalence Principle in the Dark Sector
• Comparison between two mobile absolute gravimeters: optical versus atomic interferometers
• Improved tests of Local Position Invariance using 87Rb and 133Cs fountains
• Testing the equivalence principle through freely falling quantum objects
• Testing the equivalence principle: why and how?
• New limits on variation of the fine-structure constant using atomic dysprosium
• Relativistic theory for time and frequency transfer to order c^{-3}
• Adiabatic instability in coupled dark energy-dark matter models
• Gravitationally induced inhibitions of dispersion according to the Schrödinger-Newton Equation
• Galilean Equivalence for Galactic Dark Matter
• On the Equivalence Principle in Quantum Theory
• Spacetime foam, CPT anomaly, and photon propagation
• Does an atom interferometer test the gravitational redshift at the Compton frequency ?
• Spontaneous Lorentz Violation and Nonpolynomial Interactions
• Structure formation in a string-inspired modification of the cold dark matter model
• Time-delay and Doppler tests of the Lorentz symmetry of gravity
• Quantum mechanics and the equivalence principle
• Inertial and gravitational mass in quantum mechanics
• Dark-Matter-Induced Weak Equivalence Principle Violation
• Astrophysical Constraints on Scalar Field Models
• Implications of a Scalar Dark Force for Terrestrial Experiments
• Disentangling Forms of Lorentz Violation With Complementary Clock Comparison Experiments
• Radiatively Induced Lorentz and Gauge Symmetry Violation in Electrodynamics with Varying alpha

Cited by in corpus (100)

• Search for New Physics with Atoms and Molecules
• A clock network for geodesy and fundamental science
• Space-borne Bose-Einstein condensation for precision interferometry
• Cosmological solutions and growth index of matter perturbations in $f(Q)$ gravity
• Atomic Clocks for Geodesy
• Quantum test of the equivalence principle for atoms in superpositions of internal energy eigenstates
• High-accuracy inertial measurements with cold-atom sensors
• A gravitational redshift test using eccentric Galileo satellites
• Violation of the equivalence principle from light scalar dark matter
• ZAIGA: Zhaoshan Long-baseline Atom Interferometer Gravitation Antenna
• Fifteen Years of Cold Matter on the Atom Chip: Promise, Realizations, and Prospects
• Testing gravity with cold atom interferometry: Results and prospects
• Effective inertial frame in an atom interferometric test of the equivalence principle
• A quantum sensor: simultaneous precision gravimetry and magnetic gradiometry with a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Noether symmetries in Symmetric Teleparallel Cosmology
• Generalized Uncertainty Principle, Classical Mechanics, and General Relativity
• Improving the accuracy of atom interferometers with ultracold sources
• SAGE: A Proposal for a Space Atomic Gravity Explorer
• Quantum-limited optical time transfer for future geosynchronous links
• Precision Gravity Tests and the Einstein Equivalence Principle
• Development of a strontium optical lattice clock for the SOC mission on the ISS
• A high-flux BEC source for mobile atom interferometers
• Quantum Test of the Equivalence Principle and Space-Time aboard the International Space Station
• Point-to-Point Stabilised Optical Frequency Transfer with Active Optics
• Proposal for a Quantum Test of the Weak Equivalence Principle with Entangled Atomic Species
• Comparing optical oscillators across the air to milliradians in phase and $10^{-17}$ in frequency
• A compact, robust, and transportable ultra-stable laser with a fractional frequency instability of $1\times 10^{-15}$
• Updating constraints on f(T) teleparallel cosmology and the consistency with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Test of the gravitational redshift with stable clocks in eccentric orbits: application to Galileo satellites 5 and 6
• Representation-free description of light-pulse atom interferometry including non-inertial effects
• Correlative methods for dual-species quantum tests of the weak equivalence principle
• A space-based quantum gas laboratory at picokelvin energy scales
• Fast manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensates with an atom chip
• Lorentz and CPT Tests with Clock-Comparison Experiments
• Radiation Hardness of High-Q Silicon Nitride Microresonators for Space Compatible Integrated Optics
• Characterization of a Simultaneous Dual-Species Atom Interferometer for a Quantum Test of the Weak Equivalence Principle
• Inertial quantum sensors using light and matter
• Metrology with Atom Interferometry: Inertial Sensors from Laboratory to Field Applications
• Stabilized free-space optical frequency transfer
• Application of optical single-sideband laser in Raman atom interferometry
• Analysis of Sun/Moon Gravitational Redshift tests with the STE-QUEST Space Mission
• Accelerating cosmological models in $f(Q)$ gravity and the phase space analysis
• Gravitational redshift test with the future ACES mission
• Testing scalar-tensor theories and PPN parameters in Earth orbit
• Simultaneous accurate determination of both gravity and its vertical gradient
• Active Control of Laser Wavefronts in Atom Interferometers
• Exploring the Foundations of the Universe with Space Tests of the Equivalence Principle
• Miniaturized lab system for future cold atom experiments in microgravity
• Atomtronic Matter-Wave Optics
• Dispersion by pulsars, magnetars, fast radio bursts and massive electromagnetism at very low radio frequencies
• Modelling the Accelerating Universe with $f(Q)$ Gravity: Observational Consistency
• A Simple Test of the Equivalence Principle(s) for Quantum Superpositions
• Gravity in the Quantum Lab
• Fiber laser system for cesium and rubidium atom interferometry
• Space-Time Reference with an Optical Link
• Interacting quantum mixtures for precision atom interferometry
• Quantum-classical hypothesis tests in macroscopic matter-wave interferometry
• Anisotropic cubic curvature couplings
• Compact Plug and Play Optical Frequency Reference Device Based on Doppler-Free Spectroscopy of Rubidium Vapor
• Velocity-dependent inverse cubic force and solar system gravity tests
• Development of a strontium optical lattice clock for the SOC mission on the ISS
• BBN Constraints on $f(Q,T)$ Gravity
• Robust single-sideband-modulated Raman light generation for atom interferometry by FBG-based optical rectangular filtration
• Testing the Einstein Equivalence Principle with two Earth-orbiting clocks
• Relativistic tidal effects on clock-comparison experiments
• A prototype industrial laser system for cold atom inertial sensing in space
• The USNO rubidium fountains
• Gravitational redshift induces quantum interference
• Relativistic quantum clocks
• Formulation to test gravitational redshift based on the tri-frequency combination of ACES frequency links
• Test of Einstein Equivalence Principle by frequency comparisons of optical clocks
• Quantum delay in the time of arrival of free-falling atoms
• Robust double Bragg diffraction via detuning control
• Lorentz-violating scalar Hamiltonian and equivalence principle in a static metric
• Introduction to gravitational redshift of quantum photons propagating in curved spacetime
• A HERO for general relativity
• The antenna phase center motion effect in high-accuracy spacecraft tracking experiments
• Gauge dependence and self-force from Galilean to Einsteinian free fall, compact stars falling into black holes, Hawking radiation and the Pisa tower at the general relativity centennial
• Nonclassical effects in geodesic motion
• Testing the gravitational redshift with an inner Solar System probe: the VERITAS case
• The effective Equation of State in Palatini $f(R)$ cosmology
• Physical quantities and spatial parameters in the complex octonion curved space
• Aberrations in (3+1)D Bragg diffraction using pulsed Gaussian laser beams
• The Equivalence Principle as a Noether Symmetry
• Open problems in gravitational physics
• Cold-atom Inertial Sensor without Deadtime
• Weak equivalence principle and nonrelativistic limit of general dispersion relations
• Proposed experimental test of Randall-Sundrum Models
• Adherence and violation of the equivalence principle from classical to quantum mechanics
• Quantum arrival times in free fall
• Equivalent Gravities and Equivalence Principle: Foundations and experimental implications
• Context-Dependent Time-Energy Uncertainty Relations from Projective Quantum Measurements
• A plug-and-play solution for characterizing two-way optical frequency transfer over free-space
• Bose-Einstein condensates in microgravity and fundamental tests of gravity
• A null test of General Relativity: New limits on Local Position Invariance and the variation of fundamental constants
• Fringe-locking method for the weak equivalence principle test by simultaneous dual-species atom interferometers
• The antenna phase center motion effect in space-based experiments for fundamental physics and astronomy
• Probing the Quantum Nature of Gravity in the Microgravity of Space
• Quantum Physics in Space
• Gravity field modeling using space frequency signal transfer technique between satellites