Related papers: Motion and gravity effects in the precision of qua…
A clock is, from an information-theoretic perspective, a system that emits information about time. One may therefore ask whether the theory of information imposes any constraints on the maximum precision of clocks. Here we show a…
We consider some implications of the mass defect on the frequency of atomic transitions. We have found that some well-known frequency shifts (gravitational shift and motion-induced shifts such as: quadratic Doppler and micromotion shifts)…
Time dilation is a difference in measured time between two clocks that either move with different velocities or experience different gravitational potentials. Both of these effects stem from the theory of relativity and are usually…
We consider the motion of a massive particle in a static, weakly-curved spacetime where the gravitational field is taken to be quantized. We find that Newton's law of free-fall is modified by quantum-gravitational corrections, in addition…
Quantum fields possess zero-point or vacuum fluctuations which induce mechanical effects, namely generalised Casimir forces, on any scatterer. Symmetries of vacuum therefore raise fundamental questions when confronted with the principle of…
This paper is divided into three parts. In the first (section 1), we demonstrate that all of quantum mechanics can be derived from the fundamental property that the propagation of a matter wave packet is described by the same gravitational…
We study the fundamental sensitivity that can be achieved with an ideal optomechanical system in the nonlinear regime for measurements of time-dependent gravitational fields. Using recently developed methods to solve the dynamics of a…
Proper time, ideal clocks, and boosts are well understood classically, but subtleties arise in quantum physics. We show that quantum clocks set in motion via momentum boosts do not witness classical time dilation. However, using velocity…
We summarize our investigation of the extent to which the choice of internal clock influences the dynamics in quantum models of gravity. Firstly, at the classical level, we define an extension to the Hamilton-Jacobi theory of contact…
We characterize good clocks, which are naturally subject to fluctuations, in statistical terms. We also obtain the master equation that governs the evolution of quantum systems according to these clocks and find its general solution. This…
When one takes into account gravitation, the measurement of space and time cannot be carried out with infinite accuracy. When quantum mechanics is reformulated taking into account this lack of accuracy, the resolution of the measurement…
Current attempts to probe general relativistic effects in quantum mechanics focus on precision measurements of phase shifts in matter-wave interferometry. Yet, phase shifts can always be explained as arising due to an Aharonov-Bohm effect,…
According to relativity, the reading of an ideal clock is interpreted as the elapsed proper time along its classical trajectory through spacetime. In contrast, quantum theory allows the association of many simultaneous trajectories with a…
Quantum theory and relativity offer different conceptions of time. To explore the conflict between them, we study a quantum version of the light-clock commonly used to illustrate relativistic time dilation. This semiclassical model combines…
We propose a generic mechanism for the emergence of a gravitational potential that acts on all classical objects in a quantum system. Our conjecture is based on the analysis of mutual information in many-body quantum systems. Since…
According to general relativity, clocks are the basic measuring devices needed to probe spacetime geometry. However, it is generally accepted that the mass of clocks capable of measuring small time intervals must be bounded from below. In…
The passage of time is tracked by counting oscillations of a frequency reference, such as Earth's revolutions or swings of a pendulum. By referencing atomic transitions, frequency (and thus time) can be measured more precisely than any…
I show that incoherent dynamics can lead to metrological advantages in quantum sensing. The results rely on the fact that incoherent dynamics lead to an additive contribution to the quantum Fisher information about time. Such an additive…
We show that the relativistic signatures on the transition probability of atoms moving through optical cavities are very sensitive to their spatial trajectory. This allows for the use of internal atomic degrees of freedom to measure small…
The basic tenet of the present work is the assumption of the lack of external and fixed time in the Universe. This assumption is best embodied by general relativity, which replaces the fixed space-time structure with the gravitational…