Probing Quantum Violations of the Equivalence Principle
arXiv:gr-qc/0006022 · doi:10.1023/A:1002749217269
Abstract
The joint realm of quantum mechanics and the general-relativistic description of gravitation is becoming increasingly accessible to terrestrial experiments and observations. In this essay we study the emerging indications of the violation of equivalence principle (VEP). While the solar neutrino anomaly may find its natural explanation in a VEP, the statistically significant discrepancy observed in the gravitationally induced phases of neutron interferometry seems to be the first indication of a VEP. However, such a view would seem immediately challenged by the atomic interferometry results. The latter experiments see no indications of VEP, in apparent contradiction to the neutron interferometry results. Here we present arguments that support the view that these, and related torsion pendulum experiments, probe different aspects of gravity; and that current experimental techniques, when coupled to the solar-neutrino data, may be able to explore quantum mechanically induced violations of the equivalence principle. We predict quantum violation of the equivalence principle (qVEP) for next generation of atomic interferometry experiments. The prediction entails comparing free fall of two different linear superpositions of Cesium atomic states.
This essay received Fifth Award in the Annual Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation for the year 2000. Gen. Rel. Grav. (in press)
References in corpus (3)
Cited by in corpus (36)
- Quantum Spacetime Phenomenology
- Loop quantum gravity and light propagation
- Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies
- Quantum gravity and spin 1/2 particles effective dynamics
- Quantum-Gravity Phenomenology: Status and Prospects
- Hawking radiation, Unruh radiation and the equivalence principle
- Exercices de style: a homotopy theory for set theory, I
- Improving LLR Tests of Gravitational Theory
- Quantum Gravity Effects in Geodesic Motion and Predictions of Equivalence Principle Violation
- Interface of Gravitational and Quantum Realms
- Do Mirrors for Gravitational Waves Exist?
- Entropic force approach to noncommutative Schwarzschild black holes signals a failure of current physical ideas
- How to estimate the differential acceleration in a two-species atom interferometer to test the equivalence principle
- Quantum states of p-band bosons in optical lattices
- Spin-Rotation Coupling in Muon g-2 Experiments
- On the quantum analogue of Galileo's leaning tower experiment
- Introduction to Quantum-Gravity Phenomenology
- Non-relativistic limit of quantum field theory in inertial and non-inertial frames and the Principle of Equivalence
- Entropic force approach in a noncommutative charged black hole and the equivalence principle
- Scalar particle production in a simple Horndeski theory
- Strong quantum violation of the gravitational weak equivalence principle by a non-Gaussian wave-packet
- The Quantum Field Theory Boundaries Applicability and Black Holes Thermodynamics
- Testing the principle of equivalence by supernova neutrinos
- Gravity from Pre-geometry
- Quantum Geometry as a Relational Construct
- Quantum Interference to Measure Spacetime Curvature: A Proposed Experiment at the Intersection of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity
- Lorentz-violating scalar Hamiltonian and equivalence principle in a static metric
- Fundamental physics in space: a Quantum-Gravity perspective
- Spin-rotation coupling in compound spin objects
- On Charge Conservation and The Equivalence Principle in the Noncommutative Spacetime
- Can Gravity Distinguish between Dirac and Majorana Neutrinos?
- Group-theoretical structure of quantum measurements and equivalence principle
- Constraining the spin-gravity coupling effects to the -level with dual-species atom interferometers
- Photon Mass and Very Long Baseline Interferometry
- Quantum Physics in Space
- Significance of classically forbidden regions for short baseline neutrino experiments