Quantum coherence of photons at cosmological distances

Abstract

We identify potential sources of decoherence for $U(1)$ gauge bosons from a cosmological standpoint. Besides interactions with different species in the cosmological medium, we also consider effects due to the expansion of the Universe, which can produce particles (especially scalars) than can potentially interact with the photon in a quantum state. We look in particular at the case of axion-like particles and their predicted decay channels in our analysis. These interactions are shown to have a negligible effect as far as decoherence goes. Interaction rates with CMB radiation or through Thomson scattering are small, so that the interstellar medium remains the biggest decoherence factor. Thus, quantum teleportation experiments with photon energies in the range $1$-$10$ keV should be feasible at cosmological distances up to the galaxy formation epoch or beyond ($z\sim 100$).

arXiv comment11 pages

References in corpus (17)

• New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles
• Primordial magnetic fields from pseudo-Goldstone bosons
• New Extraction of the Cosmic Birefringence from the Planck 2018 Polarization Data
• Sharpening the Weak Gravity Conjecture with Dimensional Reduction
• Planckian Axions and the Weak Gravity Conjecture
• Spacetime effects on satellite-based quantum communications
• On the Possibility of Large Axion Moduli Spaces
• The Cosmic Axion Background
• Photon propagation and the VHE gamma-ray spectra of blazars: how transparent is really the Universe?
• Constraining resonant photon-axion conversions in the Early Universe
• The Cosmophenomenology of Axionic Dark Radiation
• Photon-photon scattering: a tutorial
• How to suppress exponential growth -- on the parametric resonance of photons in an axion background
• Cosmic absorption of ultra high energy particles
• Primordial black holes in the Dark Ages: Observational prospects for future 21cm surveys
• Towards Communication in a Curved Spacetime Geometry
• Spacetime effects on wavepackets of coherent light

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Implications of the Cosmic Birefringence Measurement for the Axion Dark Matter Search
• Open Quantum System Approach to the Gravitational Decoherence of Spin-1/2 Particles
• Introduction to gravitational redshift of quantum photons propagating in curved spacetime
• Astrophysically sourced quantum coherent photonic signals
• Trajectory of a massive localised wave function in a curved spacetime geometry
• Viability of quantum communication across interstellar distances