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Precision measurement

Relativity tested with a split electron

Nature volume 517, pages 559–560 (2015)Cite this article

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Splitting and recombining an electron wave packet has been used to test relativity at a record sensitivity. The result heralds an era of precision measurements of relativity using quantum-information methods. See Letter p.592

Lorentz invariance is a fundamental symmetry of space-time that lies at the heart of Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Writing in this issue (page 592), Pruttivarasin et al.1 show how they have tested Lorentz invariance for electrons at an unprecedented sensitivity by splitting and recombining a superposition of electron wave functions — an electron wave packet — that is bound to calcium ions. This ingenious experiment opens the door to a new generation of precision tests of relativity using quantum-information techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. V. Alan Kostelecký is in the Physics Department and the Center for Spacetime Symmetries, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.,

    V. Alan Kostelecký

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  1. V. Alan Kostelecký
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Correspondence to V. Alan Kostelecký.

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41586_2015_BF517559a_MOESM1_ESM.mp3

Reporter Lizzie Gibney talks to researcher Thaned Pruttivarasin to find out how he revamped an old relativity experiment

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Kostelecký, V. Relativity tested with a split electron. Nature 517, 559–560 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/517559a

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