Open AccessEinstein's equivalence principle in quantum mechanics revisited
Author(s) -
Michael Nauenberg
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.541
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1943-2909
pISSN - 0002-9505
DOI - 10.1119/1.4962981
Subject(s) - physics , classical mechanics , equivalence principle (geometric) , quantum mechanics , einstein , quantum statistical mechanics , open quantum system , quantization (signal processing) , wave function collapse , theoretical physics , quantum , quantum dynamics , quantum process , computer science , computer vision
The gravitational equivalence principle in quantum mechanics is of considerable importance, but it is generally not included in physics textbooks. In this note, we present a precise quantum formulation of this principle and comment on its verification in a neutron diffraction experiment. The solution of the time dependent Schrodinger equation for this problem also gives the wave function for the motion of a charged particle in a homogeneous electric field, which is also usually ignored in textbooks on quantum mechanics.
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