IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms5492.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Observation of a quantum Cheshire Cat in a matter-wave interferometer experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Denkmayr

    (Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology)

  • Hermann Geppert

    (Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology)

  • Stephan Sponar

    (Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology)

  • Hartmut Lemmel

    (Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology
    Institut Laue-Langevin)

  • Alexandre Matzkin

    (Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation, CNRS Unité 8089, Université de Cergy-Pontoise)

  • Jeff Tollaksen

    (Institute for Quantum Studies and Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University)

  • Yuji Hasegawa

    (Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology)

Abstract

From its very beginning, quantum theory has been revealing extraordinary and counter-intuitive phenomena, such as wave-particle duality, Schrödinger cats and quantum non-locality. Another paradoxical phenomenon found within the framework of quantum mechanics is the ‘quantum Cheshire Cat’: if a quantum system is subject to a certain pre- and postselection, it can behave as if a particle and its property are spatially separated. It has been suggested to employ weak measurements in order to explore the Cheshire Cat’s nature. Here we report an experiment in which we send neutrons through a perfect silicon crystal interferometer and perform weak measurements to probe the location of the particle and its magnetic moment. The experimental results suggest that the system behaves as if the neutrons go through one beam path, while their magnetic moment travels along the other.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Denkmayr & Hermann Geppert & Stephan Sponar & Hartmut Lemmel & Alexandre Matzkin & Jeff Tollaksen & Yuji Hasegawa, 2014. "Observation of a quantum Cheshire Cat in a matter-wave interferometer experiment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5492
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5492
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5492
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms5492?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5492. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.