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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 1: Quantum (Field) Theory and Gravity

GR 1.1: Invited Talk

Monday, February 29, 2016, 09:00–09:45, VMP6 HS A

Time Dilation in Quantum Systems and Decoherence — •Caslav Brukner — Fakultät für Physik, Universität Wien, Austria — Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Austria

Phenomena where both quantum theory and general relativity become relevant are typically assumed to be present at extreme physical conditions: at high energies and in strong gravitational fields. In this talk I will consider low-energy quantum mechanics in the presence of weak gravitational time dilation and show that the latter leads to novel phenomena that could be accessible in quantum optical experiments. I will present a quantum version of the "twin paradox" in which a quantum system is brought in superposition of being at two different gravitational potentials, and show that time dilation induces entanglement between internal degrees of freedom and the center-of-mass of a composite particle. In particular, I will derive that time dilation can cause decoherence of composite quantum systems and thus contribute to the transition to classicality. Finally, using relational point of view, I will analyze what these results could imply for the situations where the quantum system is localized but the (space-time) background is in a quantum superposition.