International Workshop on ''Atomic Physics''
mpipks

November 21 - 25, 2011


Gedankenexperiment to prove the entanglement of time

Uwe Becker
Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG, Berlin
Inversion symmetry erases the distinction between left and right positions in ordinary space. Instead, coherent superpositions of both sites gerade und ungerade states are built which are energetically non-degenerate. Superimposing these superpositions should give rise to reestablishment of the original position states which should, however, oscillate with a frequency proportional to the energy difference between the original gerade und ungerade states. We show indirect evidence for this behavior in ordinary space analogous to the already observed behavior in flavor space. The observation is also an indirect proof of position and time entanglement, an important issue regarding the compability between quantum theory and special relativity, which could be proven directly by time resolved experiments at Free-Electron-Laser Sources.