Quantum-metrology estimation of spacetime parameters of the Earth outperforming classical precision

Abstract

We consider quantum communication schemes where quantum optical signals are exchanged between a source on Earth and a satellite. The background curved spacetime affects the quantum state of the propagating photons. We employ quantum-metrology techniques to obtain optimal bounds for the precision of quantum measurements of relevant physical parameters encoded in the final state. We focus on satellites in low Earth orbits and we find that our scheme improves the precision of the measurement of the Schwarzschild radius obtained within previous studies. Therefore, our techniques can provide the theoretical tools for novel developments that can potentially outperform the state-of-the-art obtained through classical means. We also review the impact of the relativistic effects on a simple quantum key distribution protocol within satellite schemes and find that such effects can be greatly damaging if they are not properly accounted for.