Has the Double Slit experiment ever been conducted in zero gravity?

[Mordred]

Im sure that's probably on some project list.

Looks like I was right, somewhere someone would be testing superposition in as close to zero G as feasible.

 

Thanks for the article above

Edited December 4, 2016 by Mordred

[Strange]

Before you laugh this off, how could you possibly know for sure gravity doesn't effect interference at the atomic scale? Shouldn't this have been the first test they did on ISS?

Science doesn't proceed by people doing experiments based on random guesses. You would need a sound theoretical reason and detailed (mathematical) predictions of the expected result.

 

Also, of course, ISS is not a zero gravity environment. It would be a good exercise for you to work out how much less than Earth it is.

[pittsburghjoe]

Such particles could then be used to study how such states evolve under the influence of gravity.

 

 

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2016/jun/22/experiment-is-first-to-see-kicking-photons-heat-up-nanoparticles

 

 

Science doesn't proceed by people doing experiments based on random guesses. You would need a sound theoretical reason and detailed (mathematical) predictions of the expected result.

 

 

Yes, no value in someone with a fresh set of eyes on the problem

[Mordred]

Nobody claimed there couldn't be a gravitational effect on decoherence. You simply weren't grasping the difficulties in measuring such. As you weren't grasping what causes decoherence in terms of interference. Ie how much interference is needed to cause decoherence

Edited December 9, 2016 by Mordred

[pittsburghjoe]

We can't know, for sure, if gravity takes part until we test it without gravity present.

[Mordred]

How about strengthening the interferance under a stronger gravitational interaction ? Wouldn't that be easier to detect?

 

If you can't detect an interference at 1 g, using zero g wouldn't necessarily help.

 

Part of the reason the link is using larger objects. Just like smaller slits increase the interference.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Mordred

[Strange]

Yes, no value in someone with a fresh set of eyes on the problem

That is not relevant to the point I was making. The fresh pair of eyes needs to provide a sound reason for the experiment; based on theory, for example.

 

Otherwise your suggestion is no better than asking if the experiment has ever been done on a Tuesday by someone with blue eyes and wearing pink underwear.

[swansont]

We can't know, for sure, if gravity takes part until we test it without gravity present.

 

 

No, that's not true.

 

You can look at e.g. electron diffraction through a crystal. You get concentric circles as the diffraction pattern for powdered crystal, or a regular pattern for a single crystal. If gravity had an effect, you would expect there to be a distortion. But there's isn't one that's measurable.

 

(Ni powder pattern)

http://home.iitk.ac.in/~sreerup/bso203/debyscherrer.jpg

 

You could also, as was suggested, simply tip the double-slit experiment on its side. You could even do some theory beforehand and predict how tiny the effect would be (if you had e.g. a 1 keV beam of electrons, mgh would be around 10^-35 J for a 1 micron slit width, or 6.25 x 10^-20 keV. IOW, >19 orders of magnitude smaller in energy. Which is why we know gravity won't have a big effect unless you use something that has a much larger wavelength (e.g. laser-cooled atoms)

[pittsburghjoe]

If you can't detect an interference at 1 g, using zero g wouldn't necessarily help.

 

 

Well, just look at how close to 0 we had to get to freeze helium.

Tiny differences in gravity that we can currently test for simply are not drastic enough.

 

Has a double slit ever been set up to to slide towards a hovering particle? It would have to be loose enough that you couldn't be sure what slit it would go through.

Edited December 9, 2016 by pittsburghjoe

[Mordred]

I don't you understand the sheer difficulty. The force of Earths gravity at sea level on an electron is roughly [latex]8.9*10^{-31}[/latex] Newtons. Have fun detecting that.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Mordred