Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons
Gravity is the most familiar force at our natural length scale. However, it is still exotic from the view point of particle physics. The first experimental study of quantum effects under gravity was performed using a cold neutron beam in 1975. Following this, an investigation of gravitationally boun...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2014-01-01
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| Series: | Advances in High Energy Physics |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/859241 |
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| author | Y. Kamiya G. Ichikawa S. Komamiya |
| author_facet | Y. Kamiya G. Ichikawa S. Komamiya |
| author_sort | Y. Kamiya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gravity is the most familiar force at our natural length scale. However, it is still exotic from the view point of particle physics. The first experimental study of quantum effects under gravity was performed using a cold neutron beam in 1975. Following this, an investigation of gravitationally bound quantum states using ultracold neutrons was started in 2002. This quantum bound system is now well understood, and one can use it as a tunable tool to probe gravity. In this paper, we review a recent measurement of position-space wave functions of such gravitationally bound states and discuss issues related to this analysis, such as neutron loss models in a thin neutron guide, the formulation of phase space quantum mechanics, and UCN position sensitive detectors. The quantum modulation of neutron bound states measured in this experiment shows good agreement with the prediction from quantum mechanics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-162afcb593aa42958921002889b3881d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1687-7357 1687-7365 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advances in High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-162afcb593aa42958921002889b3881d2025-02-03T01:27:48ZengWileyAdvances in High Energy Physics1687-73571687-73652014-01-01201410.1155/2014/859241859241Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold NeutronsY. Kamiya0G. Ichikawa1S. Komamiya2Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, and International Center for Elementary Particle Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanDepartment of Physics, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, JapanDepartment of Physics, Graduate School of Science, and International Center for Elementary Particle Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanGravity is the most familiar force at our natural length scale. However, it is still exotic from the view point of particle physics. The first experimental study of quantum effects under gravity was performed using a cold neutron beam in 1975. Following this, an investigation of gravitationally bound quantum states using ultracold neutrons was started in 2002. This quantum bound system is now well understood, and one can use it as a tunable tool to probe gravity. In this paper, we review a recent measurement of position-space wave functions of such gravitationally bound states and discuss issues related to this analysis, such as neutron loss models in a thin neutron guide, the formulation of phase space quantum mechanics, and UCN position sensitive detectors. The quantum modulation of neutron bound states measured in this experiment shows good agreement with the prediction from quantum mechanics.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/859241 |
| spellingShingle | Y. Kamiya G. Ichikawa S. Komamiya Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons Advances in High Energy Physics |
| title | Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons |
| title_full | Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons |
| title_fullStr | Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons |
| title_short | Precision Measurement of the Position-Space Wave Functions of Gravitationally Bound Ultracold Neutrons |
| title_sort | precision measurement of the position space wave functions of gravitationally bound ultracold neutrons |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/859241 |
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