TY - JOUR

T1 - Universality-of-clock-rates test using atom interferometry with T3 scaling

AU - Di Pumpo, Fabio

AU - Friedrich, Alexander

AU - Ufrecht, Christian

AU - Giese, Enno

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to W. P. Schleich for his stimulating input and continuing support. We also thank S. Abend, A. Bott, M. A. Efremov, N. Huntemann, R. Lopp, E. M. Rasel, D. Schlippert, C. Schubert, W. G. Unruh, A. Wolf, M. Zimmermann as well as the QUANTUS, INTENTAS, and VLBAI teams for fruitful and interesting discussions. The projects “Metrology with interfering Unruh-DeWitt detectors” (MIUnD) and “Building composite particles from quantum field theory on dilaton gravity” (BOnD) are funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung). The QUANTUS and INTENTAS projects are supported by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsche Raumfahrtagentur im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) with funds provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, BMWK) due to an enactment of the German Bundestag under Grant Nos. 50WM1956 (QUANTUS V), 50WM2250D-2250E (), as well as 50WM2177-2178 (INTENTAS). E. G. thanks the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) for a Mercator Fellowship within CRC 1227 (DQ-mat).

PY - 2023/3/15

Y1 - 2023/3/15

N2 - Metric descriptions of gravitation, among them general relativity as today's established theory, are founded on assumptions summarized by the Einstein equivalence principle (EEP). Its violation would hint at unknown physics and could be a leverage for the development of quantum gravity. Atomic clocks are excellent systems to probe aspects of EEP connected to (proper) time and have evolved into a working horse for tests of local position invariance (LPI). Even though the operational definition of time requires localized and idealized clocks, quantum systems like atoms allow for spatial superpositions that are inherently delocalized. While quantum experiments have tested other aspects of EEP, no competitive test of LPI has been performed or proposed allowing for an intrinsic delocalization. We extend the concepts for tests of the universality of clock rates (one facet of LPI) to atom interferometry generating delocalized quantum clocks. The proposed test depends on proper time with a favorable scaling and is, in contrast to fountain clocks, robust against initial conditions and recoil effects. It enables optical frequencies so that the projected sensitivity exceeds the one of state-of-the-art localized clocks. These results extend our notion of time, detached from classical and localized philosophies.

AB - Metric descriptions of gravitation, among them general relativity as today's established theory, are founded on assumptions summarized by the Einstein equivalence principle (EEP). Its violation would hint at unknown physics and could be a leverage for the development of quantum gravity. Atomic clocks are excellent systems to probe aspects of EEP connected to (proper) time and have evolved into a working horse for tests of local position invariance (LPI). Even though the operational definition of time requires localized and idealized clocks, quantum systems like atoms allow for spatial superpositions that are inherently delocalized. While quantum experiments have tested other aspects of EEP, no competitive test of LPI has been performed or proposed allowing for an intrinsic delocalization. We extend the concepts for tests of the universality of clock rates (one facet of LPI) to atom interferometry generating delocalized quantum clocks. The proposed test depends on proper time with a favorable scaling and is, in contrast to fountain clocks, robust against initial conditions and recoil effects. It enables optical frequencies so that the projected sensitivity exceeds the one of state-of-the-art localized clocks. These results extend our notion of time, detached from classical and localized philosophies.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150873296&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2204.02156

DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2204.02156

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85150873296

VL - 107

JO - Physical Review D

JF - Physical Review D

SN - 2470-0010

IS - 6

M1 - 064007

ER -