Gravitational Redshift of Light and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866914560533856256 |
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| author | Klatchko, Asher Hill, Robert |
| author_facet | Klatchko, Asher Hill, Robert |
| contents | Empirical observations together with theoretical analyses are being used to argue that the classical phenomenon of gravitational redshift -- namely, the redshift of light in a static gravitational potential -- may be in tension with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In particular, in the Pound-Rebka experiment, the emitter-absorber pair interact with each other by exchanging a Mossbauer photon, a process that is fully describable within quantum mechanics but how the photon interacts with the spacetime metric remains unclear. Since the uncertainty principle is incompatible with local realism, as per general relativity, we propose to study continuous-variable photonic entanglement within the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) framework in a weak gravitational field. We outline a thought experiment, realizable on the surface of the Earth, that could shed further light on this problematic seamline between general relativity and quantum mechanics in the weak-field regime. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_09662 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Gravitational Redshift of Light and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Klatchko, Asher Hill, Robert General Physics Primary 81, Secondary 83 Empirical observations together with theoretical analyses are being used to argue that the classical phenomenon of gravitational redshift -- namely, the redshift of light in a static gravitational potential -- may be in tension with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. In particular, in the Pound-Rebka experiment, the emitter-absorber pair interact with each other by exchanging a Mossbauer photon, a process that is fully describable within quantum mechanics but how the photon interacts with the spacetime metric remains unclear. Since the uncertainty principle is incompatible with local realism, as per general relativity, we propose to study continuous-variable photonic entanglement within the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) framework in a weak gravitational field. We outline a thought experiment, realizable on the surface of the Earth, that could shed further light on this problematic seamline between general relativity and quantum mechanics in the weak-field regime. |
| title | Gravitational Redshift of Light and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle |
| topic | General Physics Primary 81, Secondary 83 |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09662 |