Testing Gravitational Self-interaction via Matter-Wave Interferometry
Abstract
The Schrodinger-Newton equation has frequently been studied as a nonlinear modification of the Schrodinger equation incorporating gravitational self-interaction. However, there is no evidence yet as to whether nature actually behaves this way. This work investigates a possible way to experimentally test gravitational self-interaction. The effect of self-gravity on interference of massive particles is studied by numerically solving the Schrodinger-Newton equation for a particle passing through a double-slit. The results show that the presence of gravitational self-interaction has an effect on the fringe width of the interference that can be tested in matter-wave interferometry experiments. Notably, this approach can distinguish between gravitational self-interaction and environment induced decoherence, as the latter does not affect the fringe width. This result will also provide a way to test if gravity requires to be quantized on the scale of ordinary quantum mechanics.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2203.01787,
title = {Testing Gravitational Self-interaction via Matter-Wave Interferometry},
author = {Sourav Kesharee Sahoo and Ashutosh Dash and Radhika Vathsan and Tabish Qureshi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.01787},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
8 pages, 6 figures, throughly revised and expanded