Phys. Rev. D 68, 108701 (2003) [3 pages]Comment on “Measurement of quantum states of neutrons in the Earth’s gravitational field”Received 4 June 2003; published 18 November 2003 In the paper by Nesvizhevsky et al. [Phys. Rev. D 67, 102002 (2003)], it is argued that the lowest quantum state of neutrons in the Earth’s gravitational field has been experimentally identified. While this is most likely correct, it is imperative to investigate all alternative explanations of the result in order to close all loopholes, as it is the first experiment ever claimed to have observed gravitational quantum states. Here we show that geometrical effects in the experimental setup can mimic the results attributed to gravity. Modifications of the experimental setup to close these possible loopholes are suggested. © 2003 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.68.108701
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.68.108701
PACS:
03.65.Ta
See AlsoOriginal Article: V. V. Nesvizhevsky, H. G. Börner, A. M. Gagarski, A. K. Petoukhov, G. A. Petrov, H. Abele, S. Baeßler, G. Divkovic, F. J. Rueß, Th. Stöferle, A. Westphal, A. V. Strelkov, K. V. Protasov, and A. Yu. Voronin, Measurement of quantum states of neutrons in the Earth’s gravitational field, Phys. Rev. D 67, 102002 (2003). |
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