Quantum Time and the Time-Dilation induced Interaction Transfer mechanism

Abstract

Given a bipartite quantum system in an energy eigenstate, the dynamical description for one component can be derived via entanglement using the other component as a clock. This is the essence of the Page and Wootters mechanism. Moreover, if the clock is subject to a gravitational-like interaction, relative time evolution is then described by a Time-Dilated Schr\"odinger equation, in which the so-called Redshift Operator describes a purely quantum effect, analogue to gravitational time-dilation. Here we adopt a non-perturbative approach and present a finite-dimensional generalisation of this mechanism, expressing the quantum time-dilation effect as an effective interaction involving previously non-interacting system components. We name this a Time-Dilation induced Interaction Transfer (TiDIT) mechanism and discuss an example using two coupled spins as a quantum clock model. Our approach is suitable for implementations in current quantum technology and provides a new tool for exploring gravity at the intersection with quantum physics.