dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaTransit time of a freely-falling quantum particle in a background gravitational field
| Authors | P C W Davies |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0407028 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0407028 |
| DOI | 10.1088/0264-9381/21/24/001 |
Abstract
Using a model quantum clock, I evaluate an expression for the time of a non-relativistic quantum particle to transit a piecewise geodesic path in a background gravitational field with small spacetime curvature (gravity gradient), in the case that the apparatus is in free fall. This calculation complements and extends an earlier one (Davies 2004) in which the apparatus is fixed to the surface of the Earth. The result confirms that, for particle velocities not too low, the quantum and classical transit times coincide, in conformity with the principle of equivalence. I also calculate the quantum corrections to the transit time when the de Broglie wavelengths are long enough to probe the spacetime curvature. The results are compared with the calculation of Chaio and Speliotopoulos (2003), who propose an experiment to measure the foregoing effects.
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"abstract": "Using a model quantum clock, I evaluate an expression for the time of a\nnon-relativistic quantum particle to transit a piecewise geodesic path in a\nbackground gravitational field with small spacetime curvature (gravity\ngradient), in the case that the apparatus is in free fall. This calculation\ncomplements and extends an earlier one (Davies 2004) in which the apparatus is\nfixed to the surface of the Earth. The result confirms that, for particle\nvelocities not too low, the quantum and classical transit times coincide, in\nconformity with the principle of equivalence. I also calculate the quantum\ncorrections to the transit time when the de Broglie wavelengths are long enough\nto probe the spacetime curvature. The results are compared with the calculation\nof Chaio and Speliotopoulos (2003), who propose an experiment to measure the\nforegoing effects.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0407028",
"authors": [
"P C W Davies"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1088/0264-9381/21/24/001",
"title": "Transit time of a freely-falling quantum particle in a background gravitational field",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0407028"
},
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