How Gravity Pumps a Quantum Resource ✎

Original: "Gravitationally-induced Conversion of Local Coherence to Entanglement"

· Hazhir Dolatkhah, Shahriar Salimi, Soroush Haseli

arXiv:2602.09900 · 2026-02-10 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · independent analysis · 1 min

The pull between particles turns their internal coherence into a shared connection.

A quantum particle can behave like a coin spinning on its edge, never falling heads or tails. This property is called coherence. When two such particles attract each other, their spinning begins to fall into step: if one coin lands heads, the other immediately lands tails. That correlation is called entanglement, and it does not appear on its own.

Gravity works like a transfer between accounts: it does not create new money, it moves it from one account to another. The coherence of each particle decreases, while the entanglement between them grows by exactly the same amount.

Researchers have shown that if even one particle is not initially spinning on its edge but lies heads or tails, entanglement will not arise at all. So for future experiments it matters to prepare particles in a state of coherence, otherwise gravity cannot entangle them. This changes the approach to testing the quantum nature of gravity: now it is clear what condition is necessary for success.

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Maximal entanglement between two masses is reached exactly when the local coherence of each mass vanishes completely, so gravity, as it were, pumps the quantum resource out of each particle and into their joint state.

C_{l_1}(\rho_A)^2 + N(\rho_{AB})^2 = 1

The sum of the squares of local coherence and entanglement is conserved and equals one for a maximally coherent initial state.

C_r(\rho_A) + E(\rho_{AB}) = 1

The sum of the relative entropy of coherence and the entanglement entropy is constant and equals one.

C_{l_1}(\rho_A)^2 + N(\rho_{AB})^2 \leq 1

For arbitrary initial states the sum of squares does not exceed one, and equality is reached only at maximal initial coherence.

Scientists

William Wootters Bernhard Riemann Joseph Weber Karl Schwarzschild Kip Thorne Rainer Weiss

Concepts

gravitational entanglement quantum nature of gravity quantum gravity effects general relativity nonlocality gravitational potential entanglement generation Law of Universal Gravitation equivalence principle causal set theory greenberger horne zeilinger state equivalence principle test einstein Gleason's theorem magnetic coupling bell test self interaction vacuum attraction spacetime curvature

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How Gravity Pumps a Quantum Resource ✎