Using time dilation to measure curvature of space-time

Bob Yirka is a writer for Phys.org.

S1 is a diagram. The gradiometer model has a Rx of 5.8 cm. The upper arm has a blue hue due to the source mass as a function of time. The upper right has the upper arm and the lower arm with the same size interferometer. The upper arm and lower arm of the interferometer have a time integral of source mass potential. The upper arm and lower arm of the interferometer have a time integral of source mass potential. Credit is given to the science.abl7152

A group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have used time dilation in an atomic fountain to measure the space-time's curve. The group used the fountain as an interferometer to measure atomic wave packet changes that correspond to phase shifts. Albert Roura wrote a piece about the work done by the team in California in a journal issue.

The team created an atomic fountain with a vacuum tube on top of a 10-meter tower. To use the fountain, they fired lasers beneath single atoms, pushing them upward, and other lasers fired down from the top to stop them. The atom was captured by a third laser pulse. In their experiments, the researchers pushed pairs of atoms up the fountain and measured their phase shifts as they traveled up and down the fountain. Phase shifts began by stopping the atoms at different distances from the top of the fountain. Einstein's theory of relativity states that time passes more slowly closer to massive objects when it is dilated. The atoms that rose higher in the fountain experienced more acceleration, which led to a time shift between the atoms that did not rise as high.

The experiments showed that a magnetic field inside of a container can impact particles that never make their way into the container. There was still evidence of magnetic field shifts despite the fact that no magnetic force was on the electrons in the fountain.

Chris Overstreet and his colleagues Observation of a gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl7152

Albert Roura is the creator of the quantum probe of spacetime curvature. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm

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The news about using time dilation to measure space-time was retrieved fromphys.org on January 14, 2022.

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