Four-path interference and uncertainty principle in photodetachment microscopy

We study the quantal motion of electrons emitted by a pointlike monochromatic isotropic source into parallel uniform electric and magnetic fields. The two-path interference pattern in the emerging electron wave due to the electric force is modified by the magnetic lens effect which periodically focuses the beam into narrow filaments along the symmetry axis. There, four classical paths interfere. With increasing electron energy, the current distribution changes from a quantum regime governed by the uncertainty principle, to an intricate spatial pattern that yields to a semiclassical analysis.Comment: submitted to Europhysics Letter

A hole-ographic spacetime

We embed spherical Rindler space -- a geometry with a spherical hole in its center -- in asymptotically AdS spacetime and show that it carries a gravitational entropy proportional to the area of the hole. Spherical AdS-Rindler space is holographically dual to an ultraviolet sector of the boundary field theory given by restriction to a strip of finite duration in time. Because measurements have finite durations, local observers in the field theory can only access information about bounded spatial regions. We propose a notion of Residual Entropy that captures uncertainty about the state of a system left by the collection of local, finite-time observables. For two-dimensional conformal field theories we use holography and the strong subadditivity of entanglement to propose a formula for Residual Entropy and show that it precisely reproduces the areas of circular holes in AdS3. Extending the notion to field theories on strips with variable durations in time, we show more generally that Residual Entropy computes the areas of all closed, inhomogenous curves on a spatial slice of AdS3. We discuss the extension to higher dimensional field theories, the relation of Residual Entropy to entanglement between scales, and some implications for the emergence of space from the RG flow of entangled field theories.Comment: v3: minor typos correcte

Study of the neutron quantum states in the gravity field

We have studied neutron quantum states in the potential well formed by the earth's gravitational field and a horizontal mirror. The estimated characteristic sizes of the neutron wave functions in the two lowest quantum states correspond to expectations with an experimental accuracy. A position-sensitive neutron detector with an extra-high spatial resolution of ~2 microns was developed and tested for this particular experiment, to be used to measure the spatial density distribution in a standing neutron wave above a mirror for a set of some of the lowest quantum states. The present experiment can be used to set an upper limit for an additional short-range fundamental force. We studied methodological uncertainties as well as the feasibility of improving further the accuracy of this experiment