Gravitational Redshift of Light and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

TL;DR

This paper explores potential conflicts between gravitational redshift phenomena and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, proposing a thought experiment using quantum entanglement to investigate their interplay in Earth's weak gravitational field.

Contribution

It introduces a novel conceptual framework to examine the tension between general relativity and quantum mechanics through EPR entanglement in a gravitational context.

Findings

Highlights potential incompatibility between gravitational redshift and quantum uncertainty

Proposes a feasible Earth-based experiment to test quantum-gravity interactions

Suggests that quantum entanglement could reveal new insights into spacetime physics

Abstract

Empirical observations together with theoretical analyses are being used to argue that the classical phenomenon of gravitational redshift -- namely, the redshift of light in a static gravitational potential -- may be in tension with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In particular, in the Pound-Rebka experiment, the emitter-absorber pair interact with each other by exchanging a Mossbauer photon, a process that is fully describable within quantum mechanics but how the photon interacts with the spacetime metric remains unclear. Since the uncertainty principle is incompatible with local realism, as per general relativity, we propose to study continuous-variable photonic entanglement within the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) framework in a weak gravitational field. We outline a thought experiment, realizable on the surface of the Earth, that could shed further light on this problematic seamline between general relativity and quantum mechanics in the weak-field regime.