We investigate the experimental prospects for testing a relativistic local quantum measurement inequality that quantifies the trade-off between vacuum insensitivity and responsiveness to excitations for finite-size detectors. Building on the Reeh–Schlieder approximation for coherent states, we derive an explicit and practically applicable bound for arbitrary coherent states. To connect with realistic photodetection scenarios, we model the detection region as a square prism operating over a finite time window and consider a normally incident single-mode coherent state. Numerical results exhibit the expected qualitative behavior: suppressing dark counts necessarily tightens the achievable click probability.
Category: Quantum Gravity
An inequality for relativistic local quantum measurements
We investigate the trade-off between vacuum insensitivity and sensitivity to excitations in finite-size detectors, taking measurement locality as a fundamental constraint. We derive an upper bound on the detectability of vacuum excitation, given a small but nonzero probability of false positives in the vacuum state. The result is independent of the specific details of the measurement or the underlying physical mechanisms of the detector and relies only on the assumption of locality. Experimental confirmation or violation of the inequality would provide a test of the axioms of algebraic quantum field theory, offer new insights into the measurement problem in relativistic quantum physics, and establish a fundamental technological limit in local particle detection.
Reeh-Schlieder approximation for coherent states
We present an explicit, fully local Reeh-Schlieder approximation scheme for coherent states of a free scalar field. For any bounded region U, we construct a one-parameter family of bounded operators A^ζ localized in the causal complement of U. The action of A^ζ on the vacuum approximates the target coherent state in the limit ζ→0.
Particle trajectories in light pulse spacetime
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.20203
In our previous work (Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033079), we derived the metric tensor for cylindrically shaped pulses with uniform energy density. Building upon that framework, we derive the complete set of geodesics with zero angular velocity. We show that perturbations in particle trajectories may be observed in gamma ray bursts. Also, deviations in the motion of moving particles are significantly larger than those previously found for particles that are initially at rest.
Cumulative effects of laser-generated gravitational shock waves
https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05001
https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/abstract/10.1103/ylvn-3ybm
The emission of light pulses is expected to generate gravitational waves, opening the possibility of controlling gravity in an Earthed laboratory. However, measuring the optically-driven spacetime deformations is challenging due to the inherently weak interaction. We explore the possibility to achieve a detectable gravitational effect from light emission by examining the cumulative effect of a sequence of laser-generated gravitational shock waves on a test particle. We derive an exact solution to the Einstein equations for cylindrically-shaped optical beams with constant energy density, imposing continuity condition for the metric and its first-order derivatives. Our analysis reveals that laser-induced gravitational fields cause a spatial shift in the test particle, which is measurable within current interferometric technology.
