Litcius/Paper detail

Can the signatures of quantum superposition be detected through correlation harvesting?

Yu Tang, Wentao Liu, Zhilong Liu, Jieci Wang

2026Journal of High Energy Physics7 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

A bstract In this paper, we explore correlation harvesting in quantum superposition, specifically focusing on the entanglement and mutual information extracted by two Unruh-DeWitt detectors interacting with a quantum field in a mass-superposed BTZ black hole spacetime. Our findings reveal that the superposed nature of spacetime induces constructive interference between the field modes that can significantly enhance the entanglement harvesting relative to a single spacetime background. In contrast to entanglement, the mutual information obtained in spacetime superposition is influenced by the proper distance between the two detectors. While the mutual information harvested in a superposed spacetime remains lower than that in a single spacetime when the proper distance between detectors is small, it exceeds that in a single spacetime for specific mass ratios as the distance increases. Notably, we find that both entanglement and mutual information harvesting reach their maxima when the final spacetime superposition state is conditioned to align with the initial spacetime state.

Topics & Concepts

PhysicsSpacetimeQuantum entanglementQuantum field theory in curved spacetimeSuperposition principleCausal setsSpacetime topologyQuantum mechanicsStationary spacetimeQuantum informationQuantum field theoryQuantum spacetimeField (mathematics)QuantumQuantum superpositionTheoretical physicsClassical mechanicsSpherically symmetric spacetimeMaxwell's equations in curved spacetimeQuantum gravityQuantum stateQuantum metrologySpace timeSquashed entanglementQuantum nonlocalityBlack hole (networking)Light coneQuantum Electrodynamics and Casimir EffectBlack Holes and Theoretical PhysicsQuantum and Classical Electrodynamics