Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
Observation of a gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect
Chris Overstreet1, Peter Asenbaum1,2, Joseph Curti1
1Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Abstract:
Gravity curves space and time. This can lead to proper time differences between freely falling, nonlocal trajectories. A spatial superposition of a massive particle is predicted to be sensitive to this effect. We measure the gravitational phase shift induced in a matter-wave interferometer by a kilogram-scale source mass close to one of the wave packets. Deflections of each interferometer arm due to the source mass are independently measured. The phase shift deviates from the deflection-induced phase contribution, as predicted by quantum mechanics. In addition, the observed scaling of the phase shift is consistent with Heisenberg’s error-disturbance relation. These results show that gravity creates Aharonov-Bohm phase shifts analogous to those produced by electromagnetic interactions.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Nuclei: Larmor Precession Frequency
The Principle of Superposition and the Gravitational Field
Newton's Law of Gravitation
Space-Time Curvature and the General Theory of Relativity
This has been verified in many experiments. However, space and time are no longer absolute. Two observers moving relative to one another do not agree on the length of objects or the passage of time. The mechanics of objects based on Newton's laws of...
The de Broglie Wavelength
Detection of Black Holes
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...

