| Description: | [DPS Seminar] Dr. Partha Nandi (National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences , South Africa) -- Decoherence Signatures of Quantum vs Classical Gravitational Waves |
| Date: | Wednesday, Jan 21, 2026 |
| Time: | 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. |
| Venue: | Meghnad Saha Lecture Theatre |
| Details: | I will present a unified approach to determine whether a gravitational-wave (GW) background behaves classically or exhibits genuine quantum features. Although both descriptions arise from the same tidal interaction Hamiltonian for the detector, their influence on the reduced dynamics of a quantum harmonic oscillator differs sharply. A quantized graviton bath preserves coherence within the lowest phonon manifold, whereas a classical, non-quantized GW background inevitably induces decoherence. This contrast provides a clear operational signature of gravitational quantumness and highlights the distinct dynamical behaviors arising from the two descriptions. |
| Calendar: | Seminar Calendar (entered by rajni) |