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Particle detector in a position-superposed black hole spacetime

arXiv Quantum Physics
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⚡ Quantum Brief
Researchers analyzed an Unruh–DeWitt particle detector interacting with a BTZ black hole in a quantum superposition of positions, demonstrating nonclassical effects absent in classical mixtures. The study uses Quantum Reference Frame transformations to show equivalence between a superposed black hole and a detector in superposition relative to a classical black hole. A novel measurement protocol reveals distinct quantum signatures in detector response probabilities, distinguishing superposition from classical statistical mixtures. Comparisons with Foo et al.’s 2022 mass-superposed black hole work highlight key differences, attributed to singularities in the detector’s probed spectrum. The findings advance understanding of quantum gravity effects in curved spacetimes, ignoring backreaction for analytical clarity.
Particle detector in a position-superposed black hole spacetime

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Quantum Physics arXiv:2604.11897 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 13 Apr 2026] Title:Particle detector in a position-superposed black hole spacetime Authors:Laurens Walleghem, Carlo Cepollaro View a PDF of the paper titled Particle detector in a position-superposed black hole spacetime, by Laurens Walleghem and Carlo Cepollaro View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:We calculate the response of an Unruh--DeWitt detector in a 2+1d spacetime that contains a BTZ black hole in a superposition of locations. Upon performing a Quantum Reference Frame (QRF) transformation, this can also be seen as a detector in a superposition of locations in a single classical black hole spacetime. We use this to derive the form of the interaction of the detector and scalar field in such a superposition of spacetimes, ignoring backreaction. We define a measurement whose outcome probabilities contain a nonclassical contribution that would be absent for a black hole described by a classical mixture of positions. Finally, we compare our results with a previously studied setup involving a mass-superposed black hole by Foo et al in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 181301 (2022)], and highlight a key difference. We show analytically how this difference arises from singularities in the spectrum probed by the detector. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) Cite as: arXiv:2604.11897 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2604.11897v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.11897 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Laurens Walleghem [view email] [v1] Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:00:08 UTC (335 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Particle detector in a position-superposed black hole spacetime, by Laurens Walleghem and Carlo CepollaroView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-04 Change to browse by: gr-qc hep-th References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)

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Source: arXiv Quantum Physics