Mass-energy equivalence in gravitationally bound quantum states of the neutron

被引：1

作者：

Tobar, Germain ^{[1
,2
]}

Haime, Simon ^{[3
]}

Costa, Fabio ^{[1
]}

Zych, Magdalena ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Queensland, Ctr Engn Quantum Syst, Sch Math & Phys, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia

[2] Ctr Math Sci, Dept Appl Math & Theoret Phys, Wilberforce Rd, Cambridge CB3 OWA, England

[3] Australian Natl Univ, Res Sch Phys, Dept Quantum Sci, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

来源：

PHYSICAL REVIEW A | 2022年 / 106卷 / 05期

基金：

澳大利亚研究理事会;

关键词：

FIELD;

D O I：

10.1103/PhysRevA.106.052801

中图分类号：

O43 [光学];

学科分类号：

070207 ; 0803 ;

摘要：

Gravitationally bound neutrons have become an important tool in the experimental searches for new physics, such as modifications to Newton's force or candidates for dark matter particles. Here we include the relativistic effects of mass-energy equivalence into the model of gravitationally bound neutrons. Specifically, we investigate a correction in a gravitationally bound neutron's Hamiltonian due to the presence of an external magnetic field. We show that the neutron's additional weight due to mass-energy equivalence will cause a small shift in the neutron's eigenenergies and eigenstates, and examine how this relativistic correction would affect experiments with trapped neutrons. We further consider the ultimate precision in estimating the relativistic correction to the precession frequency and find that, at short times, a joint measurement of both the spin and motional degrees of freedom provides a metrological enhancement as compared to a measurement of the spin alone.

引用

页数：11