A team led by Ron Folman at Ben-Gurion University, including Nobel laureate Roger Penrose, has built a new interferometer capable of testing how gravity affects a quantum wave for the first time. The device splits a single atom into two paths—one in free fall and one held stationary—allowing measurement of what gravitational free fall does to the atom's quantum phase.
Background
The conflict between quantum mechanics and general relativity remains one of the biggest unsolved problems in physics. Previous attempts to observe gravitational effects on quantum systems were limited by technological constraints in atom cooling and interferometry.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Sep 11, 2026 at 07:20 PM
- Score
- 8.0 / 10