Breakdown of the equivalence between gravitational mass and energy for a composite quantum body

2nd International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences 2013

物理学;数学

Lebed, Andrei G.^1,2

Department of Physics, University of Arizona, 1118 E. 4-th Street, Tucson, AZ, United States^1

L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, RAS, 2 Kosygina Street, Moscow, Russia^2

关键词: Constant velocities;    Earth's gravitational field;    Expectation values;    General Relativity;    Gravitational fields;    Gravitational mass;    Macroscopic levels;    Microscopic levels;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/490/1/012154/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/490/1/012154

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The simplest quantum composite body, a hydrogen atom, is considered in the presence of a weak external gravitational field. We define an operator for the passive gravitational mass of the atom in the post-Newtonian approximation of the general relativity and show that it does not commute with its energy operator. Nevertheless, the equivalence between the expectation values of the mass and energy is shown to survive at a macroscopic level for stationary quantum states. Breakdown of the equivalence between passive gravitational mass and energy at a microscopic level for stationary quantum states can be experimentally detected by studying unusual electromagnetic radiation, emitted by the atoms, supported by and moving in the Earth's gravitational field with constant velocity, using spacecraft or satellite.