Quantum gravitational contrast in creating Schrödinger cat state
Abstract
In this paper, we illustrate how a Schrödinger cat state created via a matter-wave interferometer can be viewed as the simplest quantum-gravity setup where we can treat both matter and gravity on an equal footing at a perturbative level. Here we treat Einstein's theory of general relativity using an effective field theory approach, quantising the massless spin-2 graviton in the presence of a quantum spatial superposition of matter that creates a matter-wave interferometer in the non-relativistic limit. We show that, due to the matter-graviton coupling, the graviton vacuum is displaced analogous to the coherent state. We study the contrast/overlap between the coherent states of the left and right superpositions in the matter-wave interferometer. We also study the entanglement between matter and the graviton in this setup and relate it to a gravitational contrast, or the overlap of the quantum geometries led by the coherent states. In the appendix, we provide an example of a time-dependent harmonic oscillator and study the contrast/overlap of such coherent states of the graviton.
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BibTeX
@misc{mazumdar2026quantum,
title = {{Quantum gravitational contrast in creating Schrödinger cat state}},
author = {Anupam Mazumdar and Tian Zhou},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.05153},
eprint = {2605.05153},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05153},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantum gravitational contrast in creating Schrödinger cat state
AU - Anupam Mazumdar
AU - Tian Zhou
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.05153
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05153
AB - In this paper, we illustrate how a Schrödinger cat state created via a matter-wave interferometer can be viewed as the simplest quantum-gravity setup where we can treat both matter and gravity on an equal footing at a perturbative level. Here we treat Einstein's theory of general relativity using an effective field theory approach, quantising the massless spin-2 graviton in the presence of a quantum spatial superposition of matter that creates a matter-wave interferometer in the non-relativistic limit. We show that, due to the matter-graviton coupling, the graviton vacuum is displaced analogous to the coherent state. We study the contrast/overlap between the coherent states of the left and right superpositions in the matter-wave interferometer. We also study the entanglement between matter and the graviton in this setup and relate it to a gravitational contrast, or the overlap of the quantum geometries led by the coherent states. In the appendix, we provide an example of a time-dependent harmonic oscillator and study the contrast/overlap of such coherent states of the graviton.
ER -