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arXiv · 2404.03057

Matter waves and clocks do not observe uniform gravitational fields

Abstract

In a uniform gravitational field, classical test objects fall universally. Any reference object or observer will fall in the same universal manner. Therefore, a uniform gravitational field cannot create dynamics between observers and classical test objects. The influence of a uniform gravitational field on matter waves and clocks, however, is described inconsistently throughout research and education. To illustrate, we discuss the behavior of a matter-wave interferometer and a clock redshift experiment in a uniform gravitational field. As a consistent formulation of the equivalence principle implies, a uniform gravitational field has no observable influence on these systems and is physically equivalent to the absence of gravity.

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Peter Asenbaum, Chris Overstreet, Mark A. Kasevich. 2024-04-03. Matter waves and clocks do not observe uniform gravitational fields. https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896%2Fad340c

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