تقرير
Quantum test of the equivalence principle for atoms in superpositions of internal energy eigenstates
| العنوان: | Quantum test of the equivalence principle for atoms in superpositions of internal energy eigenstates |
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| المؤلفون: | Rosi, G., D'Amico, G., Cacciapuoti, L., Sorrentino, F., Prevedelli, M., Zych, M., Brukner, C., Tino, G. M. |
| المصدر: | Nature Communications 8, 15529 (2017) |
| سنة النشر: | 2017 |
| المجموعة: | Physics (Other) Quantum Physics |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | Physics - Atomic Physics, Quantum Physics |
| الوصف: | The Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) has a central role in the understanding of gravity and space-time. In its weak form, or Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), it directly implies equivalence between inertial and gravitational mass. Verifying this principle in a regime where the relevant properties of the test body must be described by quantum theory has profound implications. Here we report on a novel WEP test for atoms. A Bragg atom interferometer in a gravity gradiometer configuration compares the free fall of rubidium atoms prepared in two hyperfine states and in their coherent superposition. The use of the superposition state allows testing genuine quantum aspects of EEP with no classical analogue, which have remained completely unexplored so far. In addition, we measure the Eotvos ratio of atoms in two hyperfine levels with relative uncertainty in the low $10^{-9}$, improving previous results by almost two orders of magnitude. Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature Communication |
| نوع الوثيقة: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms15529 |
| الوصول الحر: | http://arxiv.org/abs/1704.02296Test |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsarx.1704.02296 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | arXiv |
| DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms15529 |
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