MeVQE: A world-leading centre for MeV scale entanglement physics

该方案汇集了来自强子物理学、核伽马射线光谱学、等离子体物理学和量子信息领域的跨学科研究人员。它将使英国在许多开创性的基本测试和光子量子纠缠的应用中处于领先地位，这些光子量子纠缠在很大程度上未被探索的兆电子伏（MeV）能量范围内，通常被称为“伽马光子”。测量和利用纠缠到这个制度是促进采用最新的量子技术在快速，成本效益和高质量的伽玛光子探测系统。在这个兆电子伏的规模，新的和令人兴奋的可能性，在医疗成像和国土安全可以访问，这是目前从更广泛的研究光学制度遥不可及。电子的反粒子（正电子）的湮灭提供了能量约为0.5 MeV的量子纠缠光子源。使用最新的量子技术测量这些光子可以提取量子纠缠的清晰签名（或证据），与传统技术相比，精度和统计数据发生了一步变化。光子的量子纠缠导致了“幽灵”（根据爱因斯坦的说法！）远距离作用效应-测量一个光子的可观测量（例如，其偏振、位置）即时影响另一个光子如何相互作用，即使它们在空间上很好地分离。根据我们目前的理论，这种联系从未减弱，甚至延伸到宇宙的大小！然而，尽管量子理论在小尺度上的表现令人难以置信，（例如原子、原子核、粒子）我们知道它是不完整的（例如，它不包括重力），因此建立量子理论的有效性，以新的精度水平描述大尺度纠缠，在增加的距离，在大量的伽马波长，在加速坐标系中（引力相当于爱因斯坦广义相对论中的加速度），在更高的光子能量下，在移动坐标系中（爱因斯坦狭义相对论），以及在减小波包尺寸时，都是重要和基本的测试。该联盟将提供突破性的新数据，这些数据是通过最新的探测器量子技术、尖端的等离子体加速器方法和来自世界上最强粒子束设施之一的数据集获得的。这些数据将被解释与第一次实施的兆电子伏规模的纠缠到模拟。此外，除了纯科学之外，通过对MeV级纠缠的新水平的理解所实现的应用对社会有许多令人兴奋的潜在好处。例如，如果你在医院有一台正电子发射断层扫描仪（PET），检测到的伽马光子是量子纠缠的，但我们只是刚刚了解到这些额外信息的好处和影响。我们的工作将提供关键数据，以指导未来开发更高质量和更具成本效益的扫描仪。兆电子伏级的光子具有非常有用的能力，可以穿过大量的材料，而纠缠的好处尚未被探索。我们对MeV级纠缠的发展可能对港口和机场等新的安全扫描设备产生重要影响。纠缠在下一代紧凑型激光等离子体粒子加速器中的作用也将被确定，这些技术在未来的医疗中具有巨大的潜力，并且是纯科学下一代粒子加速器的潜在技术。

This programme brings together an interdisciplinary consortium of researchers from the hadron physics, nuclear gamma ray spectroscopy, plasma physics and quantum information fields. It will enable UK leadership in a number of pioneering fundamental tests and applications of photon quantum entanglement in the largely unexplored Mega electronVolt (MeV) energy scale, often referred to as "gamma-photons". Measurement and exploitation of entanglement into this regime is facilitated by employing the latest quantum technologies in fast, cost effective and high-quality gamma-photon detection systems. At this MeV scale new and exciting possibilities in medical imaging and homeland security can be accessed which are currently out of reach from the more extensively studied optical regime. The annihilation of the antiparticle of the electron (the positron) provides a source of quantum-entangled photons with energy around 0.5 MeV. Measuring these photons with the latest quantum technologies allows clear signatures (or witness) of quantum entanglement to be extracted, with a step change in precision and statistics compared to conventional technologies. The quantum-entanglement of the photons results in the "spooky" (according to Einstein!) action at a distance effects - measurement of an observable for one of the photons (e.g. its polarisation, location) instantaneously affects how the other interacts, even if they are well separated spatially. According to our current theories this connection never diminishes, extending out even to the size of the universe! However, although quantum-theory works incredibly well at the small scale (e.g atoms, nuclei, particles) we know it is incomplete (e.g. it doesn't include gravity) so establishing the validity of the quantum-theory to describe entanglement at large scales with new levels of precision, at increasing distance, over large numbers of gamma wavelengths, in accelerating frames (gravity is equivalent to acceleration in Einstein's general theory of relativity), at higher photon energies, in moving frames (with Einstein's special relativity), and at reducing wavepacket size are all important and fundamental tests. The consortium will provide groundbreaking new data obtained with the latest detector quantum-technologies, cutting edge plasma accelerator methods and a dataset from one of the world's most intense particle beam facilities. The data will be interpreted with the first implementation of MeV-scale entanglement into simulation. Furthermore, alongside the pure science, applications enabled by a new level of understanding of MeV-scale entanglement have many exciting potential benefits to society. For example, if you have a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) at a hospital the detected gamma photons are quantum entangled, but we are only just learning of the benefits and impacts of this additional information. Our work will deliver the key data to guide future development of higher quality and more cost effective scanners. MeV-scale photons have the very useful ability to travel through large amounts of material and the benefits of entanglement are unexplored. Our developments of MeV-scale entanglement may have important implications for new security scanning devices e.g. at ports and airports. The role of entanglement in next generation compact laser-plasma particle accelerators will also be established, technologies which have tremendous potential in future medical treatments as well as a potential technology for next-generation particle accelerators for pure science.