Differential and Common Decoherence Modes in Witnessing the Quantum Gravity-Induced Entanglement of Matter

RESUMO

In the context of the QGEM (Quantum Gravity-induced Entanglement of Masses) experiment, we consider two adjacent matter-wave interferometers in linear and parallel configurations that interact solely via gravity. If gravity were quantum, then the two matter-wave interferometers would become entangled via the virtual excitation of the massless graviton. In this paper, we consider witnessing this entanglement by considering a generic experimental scenario where the two interferometers are subject to different global phases and different decoherence rates. In this context, we show that the individual global phases do not affect the witness, discuss common and differential decoherence modes, and perform the parameter search optimal for different masses. We provide a mathematical framework for these asymmetric decoherence rates and then search for parameters that determine the entanglement witness. We have kept the inter-separation distance between the two closest superpositions of the interferometers' masses fixed while varying the experimental time from $\tau=0.1$ s to $\tau=1$ s. Finishing the experiment at $ \tau=0.1$ s has many advantages from the point of view of protecting the experiment from random acceleration noise. However, witnessing the entanglement also suffers from $\langle W\rangle \sim -{\cal O}(10^{-2})$ for $m=10^{-14}$~kg, for decoherence rate in the ranges of ${\cal O}(10^{-1}-1)$~Hz for $\tau=0.1$ s experiment. However, as we show, increasing the mass of the matter-wave interferometer may improve the witness considerably.