Heidelberg 2015 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 62: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics III

Q 62.45: Poster

Thursday, March 26, 2015, 17:00–19:00, C/Foyer

General Relativistic Corrections for Bose-Einstein Condensates in Local Frames — •Oliver Gabel and Reinhold Walser — Institut für Angewandte Physik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 4a, 64289 Darmstadt

Measuring general relativistic effects in the gravitational field of the Earth is a main goal of current research in atom interferometry. In this context, the QUANTUS collaboration is aiming at the verification of the Einstein equivalence principle for quantum matter, having demonstrated Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and interferometry in free fall [1,2].

Thus, it is relevant to develop a relativistic description of BECs and to systematically characterise the arising corrections to Newtonian physics. We employ an extension of local inertial frames in terms of Fermi normal coordinates and a mean-field description of free falling BECs based on the non-linear covariant Klein-Gordon equation to study the frame-dependent corrections to equations of motion [3] and the interferometric phase shift in Schwarzschild space-time.

[1] T. van Zoest et. al., Bose-Einstein Condensation in Microgravity, Science, 328, 1540 (2010).

[2] H. Müntinga et. al., Interferometry with Bose-Einstein Condensates in Microgravity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 093602 (2013).

[3] O. Gabel and R. Walser, Tidal Corrections for Free Falling Bose Einstein Condensates in General Relativity, submitted (2015).