Do atoms in internal-energy superpositions obey the equivalence principle? · revision history

Revision 2

Accepted · core change · record

Changes against revision 1:

Title
Do atoms in internal-energy superpositions obey the equivalence principle?
Plain
Since energy has mass, an atom in a quantum superposition of two energy levels has no single definite mass. Whether it still falls exactly like a normal atom is a question that classical physics cannot pose.
Precise · changed · core
Revision 1: In the quantum formulation of the equivalence principle (Zych and Brukner, arXiv 1502.00971), the internal mass-energy operator $M = m_0 + H_{\mathrm{int}}/c^2$ may couple to gravity through operators $M_g$ and $M_i$ that differ off-diagonally. Bound the off-diagonal violation parameters for atoms prepared in coherent superpositions of hyperfine or optical clock states at better than $1e-12$, improving on the about $1e-9$ bound of Rosi et al 2017.
Revision 2: In the quantum formulation of the equivalence principle (Zych and Brukner, arXiv 1502.00971), the internal mass-energy operator $M = m_0 + H_{\int}/c^2$ may couple to gravity through operators $M_g$ and $M_i$ that differ off-diagonally. Bound the off-diagonal violation parameters for atoms prepared in coherent superpositions of hyperfine or optical clock states at better than $10^{-12}$, improving on the about $10^{-9}$ bound of Rosi et al 2017.
Settled by · changed · core
Revision 1: An atom interferometer with test atoms in clock-state superpositions measuring the differential acceleration with sub-1e-12 precision.
Revision 2: An atom interferometer with test atoms in clock-state superpositions measuring the differential acceleration with sub-$10^{-12}$ precision.
Kind
well-posed
Answer type
yes-no
References
(empty)
Literature status
open
Status note
(empty)
Posed since
2015

Decisions