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arXiv · 2011.08270

Gravitational decoherence of photons

Michalis Lagouvardos·Charis Anastopoulos
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Abstract

Models of gravitational decoherence are not commonly applied to ultra-relativistic systems, including photons. As a result, few quantum optical tests of gravitational decoherence have been developed. In this paper, we generalize the gravitational decoherence model of Anastopoulos and Hu (arXiv:1305.5231) to photons. In this model, decoherence originates from a bath of stochastic gravitational perturbations, possibly of fundamental origin. We derive a master equation for general states of the electromagnetic (EM) field; the only free parameter is a noise temperature $\Theta$ of the gravitational fluctuations. We find that interference experiments with long baselines, accessible in near-future experiments, can, in principle, lead to strong constraints in $\Theta$.

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Michalis Lagouvardos, Charis Anastopoulos. 2020-11-16. Gravitational decoherence of photons. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382%2Fabf2f3

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