Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T15:20:26.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toward quantum gravity measurement by cold atoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2013

MARCILIO M. DOS SANTOS ,
TEODORA ONIGA ,
ANDREW S. MCLEMAN ,
MARTIN CALDWELL  and
CHARLES H.-T. WANG
MARCILIO M. DOS SANTOS
Affiliation:
SUPA, Department of Physics, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK ([email protected]) STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK
TEODORA ONIGA
Affiliation:
SUPA, Department of Physics, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK ([email protected])
ANDREW S. MCLEMAN
Affiliation:
SUPA, Department of Physics, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK ([email protected])
MARTIN CALDWELL
Affiliation:
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK
CHARLES H.-T. WANG
Affiliation:
SUPA, Department of Physics, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK ([email protected]) STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We propose an experiment for the measurement of gravitational effect on cold atoms by applying a one-dimensional vertically sinusoidal oscillation to the magneto-optical trap, and observe the signature of low quantum energy shift of quantum-bound states as a consequence of gravitational fluctuation. To this end, we present brief details of the experiment on a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC), and a simplistic calculation of the Gross–Pitaevskii solution using the Thomas–Fermi approximation with focus on the density of the BEC for the time-dependent perturbation. Moreover, we calculate the power induced by quantum gravity on a generic atomic ensemble. We also address the possible challenges for the measurement of the expected results. Finally, we discuss the prospect of further developing this experiment toward measuring the effect of quantum spacetime fluctuations on cold atoms.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 79 , Special Issue 4: Advanced Plasma Concepts , August 2013 , pp. 437 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, M. H., Ensher, J. R., Matthews, M. R., Wieman, C. E. and Cornell, E. A. 1995 Observation of Bose–Einstein condensate in a dilute atomic vapor. Science 269, 198–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bethe, H. A. and Brown, L. M. 1950 Numerical value of the lamb shift. Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3.Google Scholar
Dalfovo, F. 1999 Bose–Einstein condensation in trapped gases. Rev. Mod. Phys. 71 (3), 463–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, W. E. Jr. 1955 Fine Structure of the Hydrogen Atom. Nobel Lecture. Avaiable at http://www.nobelprize.org.Google Scholar
Pethick, C. J. and Smith, H. 2002 Bose Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Scully, M. O. and Zubairy, M. S. 1997 Quantum Optics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, C. H.-T., Bingham, R. and Mendonca, J. T. 2012 Probing spacetime fluctuations using cold atom traps. In: American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1421, pp. 203–211. doi:10.1063/1.3679598.Google Scholar