Unruh effect and macroscopic quantum interference

TL;DR

This paper studies how Unruh radiation causes decoherence in matter-wave interferometry with dielectric spheres, finding that while it induces momentum diffusion, it does not prevent interference observations even at large accelerations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of Unruh effect-induced decoherence in macroscopic quantum interference, highlighting its limited impact compared to inertial tidal forces.

Findings

Unruh radiation causes momentum diffusion leading to decoherence.

Interference remains observable despite Unruh-induced decoherence.

Tidal forces can disrupt objects before Unruh decoherence becomes significant.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of Unruh radiation on matter-wave interferometry experiments using neutral objects modeled as dielectric spheres. The Unruh effect leads to a loss of coherence through momentum diffusion. This is a fundamental source of decoherence that affects all objects having electromagnetic interactions. However, the effect is not large enough to prevent the observation of interference for objects of any size, even when the path separation is larger than the size of the object. When the acceleration in the interferometer arms is large, inertial tidal forces will disrupt the material integrity of the interfering objects before the Unruh decoherence of the centre of mass motion is sufficient to prevent observable interference.