Threshold in Quantum Correlated Interference for a Particle Interacting with Two Scatterers

Abstract

Correlated interference is calculated for a microscopic particle retro-reflecting from two spatially separated scatterers that are free to move, all three of which are treated as quantum bodies: the positions of the particle traversing this 1D interferometer and those of the interferometer components are all uncertain. Interference in a measurement of only the particle is shown to disappear for microscopic yet appear for mesoscopic scatterers, contrary to that of a quantum-classical transition. A measurement of this threshold can verify quantum correlations in many-body systems by measuring only the retro-reflected microscopic particle. The decoherence of a mesoscopic scatterer is determined by this threshold without it having to traverse slits or beamsplitters.

Collective Behavior in Quantum Interference: A Supplementary Superposition Principle

“…Here, however, the particle and scatterers are all quantum objects. The following examples illustrate that: a) SQI requires an interferometric transition from coherent to incoherent scattering [23] while CQI does not; and b) SQI yields a correlated quantum interference pattern that differs from CQI. Finally, experimental evidence from the literature, particularly molecular dissociation that could support CQI is considered.…”

“…Some of the calculational details that are outlined below are found elsewhere for related systems. [9,10,23] The initial separable three-body scatterer state is 𝜓 1 [x 1 ]𝜓 2 [x 2 ]𝜓 3 [x 3 ], where the numerical subscripts refer to each body in the same manner as with the coordinates. The following discussion does not explicitly treat indistinguishable bodies.…”