Force-Free Gravitational Redshift: Proposed Gravitational Aharonov-Bohm experiment

TL;DR

This paper proposes a laboratory interferometry experiment with matter waves to demonstrate a gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect, showing phase shifts due to gravitational potential without classical forces, highlighting quantum effects of gravity.

Contribution

It introduces a feasible experimental setup to observe gravitational phase shifts analogous to the Aharonov-Bohm effect, emphasizing the role of gravitational potential in quantum phase.

Findings

Phase shift induced by gravitational potential without classical force

Demonstration of gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect in laboratory conditions

Potential for new insights into quantum gravity phenomena

Abstract

We propose a feasible laboratory interferometry experiment with matter waves in a gravitational potential caused by a pair of artificial field-generating masses. It will demonstrate that the presence of these masses (and, for moving atoms, time dilation) induces a phase shift, even if it does not cause any classical force. The phase shift is identical to that produced by the gravitational redshift (or time dilation) of clocks ticking at the atom's Compton frequency. In analogy to the Aharonov-Bohm effect in electromagnetism, the quantum mechanical phase is a function of the gravitational potential and not the classical forces.