Detecting Classically Undetectable Particles through Quantum Decoherence
Abstract
Some hypothetical particles are considered essentially undetectable because they are far too light and slow-moving to transfer appreciable energy or momentum to the normal matter that composes a detector. I propose instead directly detecting such feeble particles, like sub-MeV dark matter or even gravitons, through their uniquely distinguishable decoherent effects on quantum devices like matter interferometers. More generally, decoherence can reveal phenomena that have arbitrarily little classical influence on normal matter, giving new motivation for the pursuit of macroscopic superpositions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1205.3195,
title = {Detecting Classically Undetectable Particles through Quantum Decoherence},
author = {C. Jess Riedel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.3195},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
5 pages. This has now been squeezed to PRL form. Most of the dark matter material has been moved to arXiv:1212.3061. Some of the material about bases and quantum enhanced measurements will only be available in the old version until I get around to writing the third article