This is an illustration of a
molecule in the presence of gravitational time dilation. The molecule is
in a quantum superposition of being in several places at the same time,
but time dilation destroys this quantum phenomenon.
Credit: Copyright Igor Pikovski, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
In 1915 Albert Einstein formulated the
theory of general relativity which fundamentally changed our
understanding of gravity. He explained gravity as the manifestation of
the curvature of space and time. Einstein's theory predicts that the
flow of time is altered by mass. This effect, known as "gravitational
time dilation," causes time to be slowed down near a massive object. It
affects everything and everybody; in fact, people working on the ground
floor will age slower than their colleagues a floor above, by about 10
nanoseconds in one year. This tiny effect has actually been confirmed in
many experiments with very precise clocks. Now, a team of researchers
from the University of Vienna, Harvard University and the University of
Queensland have discovered that the slowing down of time can explain
another perplexing phenomenon: the transition from quantum behavior to
our classical, everyday world.
How gravity suppresses quantum behavior
Quantum theory, the other major discovery in physics in the early
20th century, predicts that the fundamental building blocks of nature
show fascinating and mind-boggling behavior. Extrapolated to the scales
of our everyday life quantum theory leads to situations such as the
famous example of Schroedinger's cat: the cat is neither dead nor alive,
but in a so-called quantum superposition of both. Yet such a behavior
has only been confirmed experimentally with small particles and has
never been observed with real-world cats. Therefore, scientists conclude
that something must cause the suppression of quantum phenomena on
larger, everyday scales. Typically this happens because of interaction
with other surrounding particles.
The research team, headed by Caslav Brukner from the University of
Vienna and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information,
found that time dilation also plays a major role in the demise of
quantum effects. They calculated that once the small building blocks
form larger, composite objects -- such as molecules and eventually
larger structures like microbes or dust particles -, the time dilation
on Earth can cause a suppression of their quantum behavior. The tiny
building blocks jitter ever so slightly, even as they form larger
objects. And this jitter is affected by time dilation: it is slowed down
on the ground and speeds up at higher altitudes. The researchers have
shown that this effect destroys the quantum superposition and, thus,
forces larger objects to behave as we expect in everyday life.
Paving the way for the next generation of quantum experiments
"It is quite surprising that gravity can play any role in quantum
mechanics," says Igor Pikovski, who is the lead author of the
publication and is now working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics: "Gravity is usually studied on astronomical scales, but it
seems that it also alters the quantum nature of the smallest particles
on Earth." "It remains to be seen what the results imply on cosmological
scales, where gravity can be much stronger," adds Brukner. The results
of Pikovski and his co-workers reveal how larger particles lose their
quantum behavior due to their own composition, if one takes time
dilation into account. This prediction should be observable in
experiments in the near future, which could shed some light on the
fascinating interplay between the two great theories of the 20th
century, quantum theory and general relativity.
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from
materials provided by
University of Vienna.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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