The Instability of a Quantum Superposition of Time Dilations

Using the relativistic concept of time dilation we show that a superposition of gravitational potentials can lead to nonunitary time evolution. For sufficiently weak gravitational potentials one can still define, for all intents and purposes, a global coordinate system. A probe particle in a superpo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2014-10
Main Authors: Rademaker, Louk, van der Reep, Tom, Van den Broeck, Nick, Bob van Waarde, de Voogd, Marc, Oosterkamp, Tjerk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coordinates
Gravitation
Gravitational fields
Quantum mechanics
Stability
Superposition (mathematics)
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Using the relativistic concept of time dilation we show that a superposition of gravitational potentials can lead to nonunitary time evolution. For sufficiently weak gravitational potentials one can still define, for all intents and purposes, a global coordinate system. A probe particle in a superposition of weak gravitational fields will, however, experience dephasing due to the different time dilations. The corresponding instability timescale is accessible to experiments, and can be used as a degree of macroscopicity. Finally, we suggest an experiment with smoothly tunable amplification in a microwave interferometer that allows a quantitative study of the quantum to classical boundary.
ISSN:2331-8422