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Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/29580
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Record Id 29580
Title Scattering by entangled spatial and spin degrees of freedom
Contributors
Abstract Several recent experiments on liquid and solid samples containing protons or deuterons show an interesting anomaly, which is a shortfall in the intensity of energetic neutrons scattered by samples. Previously we demonstrated that quantum correlations in the spatial and spin degrees of freedom of the hydrogen isotopes lead to entanglement in scattering and a reduction in the scattered intensity. The viability of short-lived quantum correlations as the cause of the observed anomalies is further explored and found to be entirely feasible. General features of the basic premiss, that quantum entanglement reduces the scattered signal, are discussed and the interpretation of the neutron scattering experiments is set in context to related work on other systems. For the experiments in question, the duration of a scattering event, tausubscript s, is a fraction of a femtosecond which is extremely short compared to solid-state relaxation times. Increasing tausubscript s, by suitably changing experimental conditions, restores the intensity to the standard value calculated from single atom cross-section and concentration of particles. Our physical picture of the restoration is evolution with increasing tau subscript s from a pure state of the particles (described by a wavefunction) to a mixed state (described by a density matrix) that is created through decoherence, by steadily engaging the solid-state environment of the particles.
Organisation CCLRC
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Related Research Object(s): 4334 , 1624
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Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Report RAL Technical Reports RAL-TR-2001-021. 2001. RAL-TR-2001-021.pdf 2001