Detecting the Curvature of de Sitter Universe with Two Entangled Atoms

作者：Tian, Zehua^*; Wang, Jieci; Jing, Jiliang; Dragan, Andrzej^*

来源：Scientific Reports, 2016, 6(1): 35222.

DOI：10.1038/srep35222

• FLUCTUATIONS
• STATES

Casimir-Polder interaction arises from the vacuum fluctuations of quantum field that depend on spacetime curvature and thus is spacetime-dependent. Here we show how to use the resonance Casimir-Polder interaction (RCPI) between two entangled atoms to detect spacetime curvature. We find that the RCPI of two static entangled atoms in the de Sitter-invariant vacuum depends on the de Sitter spacetime curvature relevant to the temperature felt by the static observer. It is characterized by a 1/L-2 power law decay when beyond a characteristic length scale associated to the breakdown of a local inertial description of the two-atom system. However, the RCPI of the same setup embedded in a thermal bath in the Minkowski universe is temperature-independent and is always characterized by a 1/L power law decay. Therefore, although a single static atom in the de Sitter-invariant vacuum responds as if it were bathed in thermal radiation in a Minkowski universe, using the distinct difference between RCPI of two entangled atoms one can in principle distinguish these two universes.

• 出版日期2016-10-12
• 单位湖南师范大学