Is gravitational mass of a composite quantum body equivalent to its energy?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

We define passive gravitational mass operator of a hydrogen atom in the post-Newtonian approximation of general relativity and show that it does not commute with energy operator, taken in the absence of gravitational field. Nevertheless, the equivalence between the expectation values of passive gravitational mass and energy is shown to survive for stationary quantum states. Inequivalence between passive gravitational mass and energy at a macroscopic level results in time dependent oscillations of the expectation values of passive gravitational mass for superpositions of stationary quantum states, where the equivalence restores after averaging over time. Inequivalence between gravitational mass and energy at a microscopic level reveals itself as unusual electromagnetic radiation, emitted by the atoms, supported and moved in the Earth gravitational field with constant velocity using spacecraft or satellite, which can be experimentally measured.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)969-976
Number of pages8
JournalCentral European Journal of Physics
Volume11
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2013

Keywords

  • equivalence principle
  • mass-energy equivalence
  • quantum gravity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Is gravitational mass of a composite quantum body equivalent to its energy?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this