Event horizons are tunable factories of quantum entanglement

Louisiana State University physicists have used quantum information theory techniques to show how to amplify the Hawking effect in a controlled manner. The scientists propose a protocol for testing this idea in the laboratory. The results of stimulated Hawking radiation in an analog white-black hole pair have recently been published in Physical Review Letters.

Black holes are some of the most incomprehensible objects in our universe due to the fact that their inner-workings are hidden behind a veil.

Stephen Hawking added more mystique to the character of black holes in 1974 by showing that a black hole emits radiation as if it was a hot body, gradually losing mass. This is the signature of the effect. It's difficult to test this result on a black hole since the faint Hawking radiation gets absorbed by other sources of radiation.

In the 1980's, a seminal article by William Unruh established that the production of entangled Hawking particles occurs in any system that can support an effective event horizon. Such systems generally fall under the umbrella of "Analog gravity systems", and opened a window for testing the ideas of Stephen Hawking in the laboratory.

More than a decade has passed since serious experimental investigations into gravity analog systems began. Stimulated and spontaneously-generated Hawking radiation has recently been observed in several platforms, but measuring it has proved difficult due to its faint and fragile character.

Associate Professor Ivan Agullo said that they show that one can amplify the production of entanglement by illuminating by the horizon, or horizon, with appropriately chosen quantum states.

Many of the quantum information tools used in this research were from my graduate research with Professor Dowling. He encouraged me to work on eccentric ideas, like analog black holes, and see if I could meld techniques from various fields of physics, in order to produce something novel orcute.

One of the richest physical phenomena connecting seemingly unrelated fields of physics is the Hawking process. We can use our detailed numerical analysis to understand the similarities and differences between astrophysical and analog black holes.

More information: Ivan Agullo et al, Quantum Aspects of Stimulated Hawking Radiation in an Optical Analog White-Black Hole Pair, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.091301 Journal information: Physical Review Letters Citation: Event horizons are tunable factories of quantum entanglement (2022, March 4) retrieved 4 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-event-horizons-tunable-factories-quantum.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.