General Relativistic Decoherence with Applications to Dark Matter Detection
arXiv:2103.15892 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.031301
Abstract
Quantum mechanics allows for states in macroscopic superpositions, but they ordinarily undergo rapid decoherence due to interactions with their environment. A system that only interacts gravitationally, such as an arrangement of dark matter (DM), may exhibit slow decoherence. In this Letter, we compute the decoherence rate of a quantum object within general relativity, focusing on superposed metric oscillations; a rare quantum general relativistic result. For axion DM in a superposition of the field's phase, we find that DM in the Milky Way is robust against decoherence, while a spatial superposition is not. This novel phase behavior may impact direct detection experiments.
arXiv comment7 pages in double column format, 1 figure. V2: Updated to resemble version published in PRL
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