Space–time torsion contribution to quantum interference phases

AbstractThe field of neutron interferometry achieved one of its most significant successes with the detection of the influence of gravity in the quantum mechanical phase of a thermal neutron beam. From the latest experimental readouts in this context an intriguing discrepancy has been elicited. Indeed, theory and experiment dissent by one per cent, and though this fact could be a consequence of the mounting of the experimental device, it might also embody a difference between the way in which gravity behaves in classical and quantum mechanics. In this work the effects, upon the interference pattern, of space–time torsion will be analyzed heeding its coupling with the spin of the neutron beam. It will be proved that, even with this contribution, there is enough leeway for a further discussion of the validity of the equivalence principle in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics