10 May 2021

Space Science at Droptower SEMINAR TALK

Location: ZARM Bremen - Online seminar
When: 10.5.2021, 17:00 CET - Online

Speaker: Fayçal Hammad (Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Canada)

Title: Inertial mass, gravitational mass, and gravitational tidal forces in quantum mechanics

Abstract: Gravitational tidal forces conceal very interesting effects when combined with the extended nature of the wavefunction of a freely-falling quantum particle. The reason being that inertial properties of the particle get then mixed with the gravitational effects in such a way that, as in classical mechanics, the ratio of the gravitational mass to the inertial mass of the particle emerges in an isolated form. The equivalence principle in quantum mechanics then takes on a novel meaning thanks to the emergence of mass-independent dynamics during the free fall of the quantum particle.