PIRSA:12060059

Measuring Distance with Acceleration-assisted Entanglement Harvesting

Salton, G. (2012). Measuring Distance with Acceleration-assisted Entanglement Harvesting. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/12060059

Salton, Grant. Measuring Distance with Acceleration-assisted Entanglement Harvesting. Perimeter Institute, Jun. 27, 2012, https://pirsa.org/12060059 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:12060059,
            doi = {10.48660/12060059},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/12060059},
            author = {Salton, Grant},
            keywords = {},
            language = {en},
            title = {Measuring Distance with Acceleration-assisted Entanglement Harvesting},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2012},
            month = {jun},
            note = {PIRSA:12060059 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Grant Salton Amazon.com

DOI 10.48660/12060059
Collection
Talk Type Conference

Abstract

We show that entanglement harvested from a quantum field by interaction with local detectors undergoing anti-parallel acceleration can be used to measure the distance of closest approach between the two detectors. Information about the separation is stored nonlocally in the phase of the joint state of the detectors after the interaction; a single detector alone contains none. We model the detectors as two-level quantum systems accelerating uniformly  through the Minkowski vacuum while interacting for a short time with a massless scalar field. This interaction allows entanglement to be swapped locally from the field to the detectors. Although each detector alone sees the same thermal spectrum (due to Unruh radiation), the joint state between them may be entangled. In the vicinity of a critical distance of closest approach between the detectors, the phase of the entangled state depends sensitively on the distance. We contrast this with the case of parallel acceleration, in which no such critical distance exists, and we discuss the connection of this case with entanglement harvested from an expanding universe.