We show that, by treating the gravitational interaction between two mechanical resonators as a classical measurement channel, a gravitational decoherence model results that is equivalent to a model first proposed by Diosi. The resulting decoherence model implies that the classically mediated gravitational interaction between two gravitationally coupled resonators cannot create entanglement. The gravitational decoherence rate ( and the complementary heating rate) is of the order of the gravitationally induced normal mode splitting of the two resonators.
The notion of time is given a different footing in Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, treated as a parameter in the former and being an observer dependent property in the later. From a operational point of view time is simply the correlation between a system and a clock, where an idealized clock can be modelled as a two level systems. We investigate the dynamics of clocks interacting gravitationally by treating the gravitational interaction as a classical information channel. In particular, we focus on the decoherence rates and temporal resolution of arrays of $N$ clocks showing how the minimum dephasing rate scales with $N$, and the spatial configuration. Furthermore, we consider the gravitational redshift between a clock and massive particle and show that a classical channel model of gravity predicts a finite dephasing rate from the non-local interaction. In our model we obtain a fundamental limitation in time accuracy that is intrinsic to each clock.
The physics of low-energy quantum systems is usually studied without explicit consideration of the background spacetime. Phenomena inherent to quantum theory on curved space-time, such as Hawking radiation, are typically assumed to be only relevant at extreme physical conditions: at high energies and in strong gravitational fields. Here we consider low-energy quantum mechanics in the presence of gravitational time dilation and show that the latter leads to decoherence of quantum superpositions. Time dilation induces a universal coupling between internal degrees of freedom and the centre-of-mass of a composite particle. The resulting correlations cause decoherence of the particles position, even without any external environment. We also show that the weak time dilation on Earth is already sufficient to decohere micron scale objects. Gravity therefore can account for the emergence of classicality and the effect can in principle be tested in future matter wave experiments.
Erik Verlindes theory of entropic gravity [arXiv:1001.0785], postulating that gravity is not a fundamental force but rather emerges thermodynamically, has garnered much attention as a possible resolution to the quantum gravity problem. Some have ruled this theory out on grounds that entropic forces are by nature noisy and entropic gravity would therefore display far more decoherence than is observed in ultra-cold neutron experiments. We address this criticism by modeling linear gravity acting on small objects as an open quantum system. In the strong coupling limit, when the models unitless free parameter $sigma$ goes to infinity, the entropic master equation recovers conservative gravity. We show that the proposed master equation is fully compatible with the textit{q}textsc{Bounce} experiment for ultra-cold neutrons as long as $sigmagtrsim 250$ at $90%$ confidence. Furthermore, the entropic master equation predicts energy increase and decoherence on long time scales and for large masses, phenomena which tabletop experiments could test. In addition, comparing entropic gravitys energy increase to that of the Di{o}si-Penrose model for gravity induced decoherence indicates that the two theories are incompatible. These findings support the theory of entropic gravity, motivating future experimental and theoretical research.
In this paper we extend the investigation of Adami and Ver Steeg [Class. Quantum Grav. textbf{31}, 075015 (2014)] to treat the process of black hole particle emission effectively as the analogous quantum optical process of parametric down conversion (PDC) with a dynamical (depleted vs. non-depleted) `pump source mode which models the evaporating black hole (BH) energy degree of freedom. We investigate both the short time (non-depleted pump) and long time (depleted pump) regimes of the quantum state and its impact on the Holevo channel capacity for communicating information from the far past to the far future in the presence of Hawking radiation. The new feature introduced in this work is the coupling of the emitted Hawking radiation modes through the common black hole `source pump mode which phenomenologically represents a quantized energy degree of freedom of the gravitational field. This (zero-dimensional) model serves as a simplified arena to explore BH particle production/evaporation and back-action effects under an explicitly unitary evolution which enforces quantized energy/particle conservation. Within our analogous quantum optical model we examine the entanglement between two emitted particle/anti-particle and anti-particle/particle pairs coupled via the black hole (BH) evaporating `pump source. We also analytically and dynamically verify the `Page information time for our model which refers to the conventionally held belief that the information in the BH radiation becomes significant after the black hole has evaporated half its initial energy into the outgoing radiation. Lastly, we investigate the effect of BH particle production/evaporation on two modes in the exterior region of the BH event horizon that are initially maximally entangled, when one mode falls inward and interacts with the black hole, and the other remains forever outside and non-interacting.
Quantum Measure Theory (QMT) is a generalization of quantum theory where physical predictions are computed from a matrix known as emph{decoherence functional} (DF). Previous works have noted that, in its original formulation, QMT exhibits a problem with composability, since the composition of two decoherence functionals is, in general, not a valid decoherence functional. This does not occur when the DFs in question happen to be positive semidefinite (a condition known as strong positivity). In this paper, we study the concept of composability of DFs and its consequences for QMT. Firstly, we show that the problem of composability is much deeper than originally envisaged, since, for any $n$, there exists a DF that can co-exist with $n-1$ copies of itself, but not with $n$. Secondly, we prove that the set of strongly positive DFs cannot be enlarged while remaining closed under composition. Furthermore, any closed set of DFs containing all quantum DFs can only contain strongly positive DFs.