Entanglement, holonomic constraints, and the quantization of fundamental interactions

Abstract

It is a general belief that all fundamental interactions need to be quantized. However, all attempts to develop a quantum theory of gravity presented various problems, leading to a recent active debate about how to probe its quantum nature. In the present work we provide a proof for the necessity of quantizing fundamental interactions demonstrating that a quantum version is needed for any non trivial conservative interaction whose strength is a function of the relative distance between two objects. Our proof is based on a consistency argument that in the presence of a classical field two interacting objects in a separable state could not develop entanglement. This requirement can be cast in the form of a holonomic constraint that cannot be satisfied by generic interparticle potentials. Extending this picture of local holonomic constraints, we design a protocol that allows to measure the terms of a multipole expansion of the interaction of two composite bodies. The results presented in this work can pave the way for a study of fundamental interactions based on the analysis of entanglement properties.