dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaGravitational quantum states of neutrons in a rough waveguide
| Authors | A. E. Meyerovich, V. V. Nesvizhevsky |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0603203 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0603203 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.063616 |
Abstract
A theory of gravitational quantum states of ultracold neutrons in waveguides with absorbing/scattering walls is presented. The theory covers recent experiments in which the ultracold neutrons were beamed between a mirror and a rough scatterer/absorber. The analysis is based on a recently developed theory of quantum transport along random rough walls which is modified in order to include leaky (absorbing) interfaces and, more importantly, the low-amplitude high-aperture roughness. The calculations are focused on a regime when the direct transitions into the continuous spectrum above the absorption threshold dominate the depletion of neutrons from the gravitational states and are more efficient than the processes involving the intermediate states. The theoretical results for the neutron count are sensitive to the correlation radius (lateral size) of surface inhomogeneities and to the ratio of the particle energy to the absorption threshold in a weak roughness limit. The main impediment for observation of the higher gravitational states is the "overhang" of the particle wave functions which can be overcome only by use scatterers with strong roughness. In general, the strong roughness with high amplitude is preferable if one wants just to detect the individual gravitational states, while the strong roughness experiments with small amplitude and high aperture are preferable for the quantitative analysis of the data. We also discuss the ways to further improve the accuracy of calculations and to optimize the experimental regime.
{
"annotation_id": "6d5b919f-10c6-4ad9-9b32-1b76ab8d5c4e",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:27.223000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:27.223000Z",
"file_hash": "0f343601ca5c299dc10c8d1b3775f4d381dde8bb1f41d851cd27eb772e146ace",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "A theory of gravitational quantum states of ultracold neutrons in waveguides\nwith absorbing/scattering walls is presented. The theory covers recent\nexperiments in which the ultracold neutrons were beamed between a mirror and a\nrough scatterer/absorber. The analysis is based on a recently developed theory\nof quantum transport along random rough walls which is modified in order to\ninclude leaky (absorbing) interfaces and, more importantly, the low-amplitude\nhigh-aperture roughness. The calculations are focused on a regime when the\ndirect transitions into the continuous spectrum above the absorption threshold\ndominate the depletion of neutrons from the gravitational states and are more\nefficient than the processes involving the intermediate states. The theoretical\nresults for the neutron count are sensitive to the correlation radius (lateral\nsize) of surface inhomogeneities and to the ratio of the particle energy to the\nabsorption threshold in a weak roughness limit. The main impediment for\nobservation of the higher gravitational states is the \"overhang\" of the\nparticle wave functions which can be overcome only by use scatterers with\nstrong roughness. In general, the strong roughness with high amplitude is\npreferable if one wants just to detect the individual gravitational states,\nwhile the strong roughness experiments with small amplitude and high aperture\nare preferable for the quantitative analysis of the data. We also discuss the\nways to further improve the accuracy of calculations and to optimize the\nexperimental regime.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0603203",
"authors": [
"A. E. Meyerovich",
"V. V. Nesvizhevsky"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.73.063616",
"title": "Gravitational quantum states of neutrons in a rough waveguide",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0603203"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "1ce57c99-a43c-4c20-81f6-b512f4abb908",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}