Quantum Emulation of Gravitational Waves

Ivan Fernandez-Corbaton; Mauro Cirio; Alexander Büse; Lucas Lamata; Enrique Solano; Gabriel Molina-Terriza

doi:10.1038/srep11538

Quantum Emulation of Gravitational Waves

Sci Rep. 2015 Jul 14:5:11538. doi: 10.1038/srep11538.

Authors

Ivan Fernandez-Corbaton¹, Mauro Cirio², Alexander Büse², Lucas Lamata³, Enrique Solano⁴, Gabriel Molina-Terriza²

Affiliations

¹ 1] Department of Physics &Astronomy, Macquarie University, Australia [2] ARC Center for Engineered Quantum Systems, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales 2109, Australia [3] Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany.
² 1] Department of Physics &Astronomy, Macquarie University, Australia [2] ARC Center for Engineered Quantum Systems, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
³ Department of Physical Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Apartado 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
⁴ 1] Department of Physical Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Apartado 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain [2] IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Maria Diaz de Haro 3, 48013 Bilbao, Spain.

Abstract

Gravitational waves, as predicted by Einstein's general relativity theory, appear as ripples in the fabric of spacetime traveling at the speed of light. We prove that the propagation of small amplitude gravitational waves in a curved spacetime is equivalent to the propagation of a subspace of electromagnetic states. We use this result to propose the use of entangled photons to emulate the evolution of gravitational waves in curved spacetimes by means of experimental electromagnetic setups featuring metamaterials.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't