{"data":{"id":2329,"lang":"en","title":"Physicists Confirm Einstein's Equivalence Principle Holds True at Quantum Scale","summary":"An international team measured a quantum phase shift in freely falling rubidium atoms, confirming Einstein's equivalence principle holds even at quantum scales.","category":"science","category_label":"Science","published_at":"2026-09-07T10:01:52Z","updated_at":"2026-09-07T10:01:52Z","url":"https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/2329-physicists-confirm-einstein-s-equivalence-principle-holds-true-at-quantum-scale","api_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/2329?lang=en","markdown_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/2329.md?lang=en","image_url":"https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2026/scientists-observe-ein-1.jpg","word_count":195,"reading_time_minutes":1,"sources":[{"url":"https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-einstein-gravity-quantum-world.html","domain":"phys.org"},{"url":"https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/quantum-physics/there-is-no-conflict-between-quantum-physics-and-gravity-physicists-prove-einsteins-happiest-thought-holds-true-at-quantum-scales","domain":"livescience.com"}],"translation":{"lang":"cs","id":2402,"title":"Fyzici potvrdili, že Einsteinův princip ekvivalence platí i v kvantovém měřítku","url":"https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/2402-fyzici-potvrdili-ze-einsteinuv-princip-ekvivalence-plati-i-v-kvantovem-meritku","api_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/2402?lang=cs"},"content":"An international team led by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the University of Ulm and the University of Oxford has directly measured a quantum phase shift in a freely falling object for the first time, confirming that Einstein's equivalence principle survives at the quantum level. The study, published September 2 in Science Advances, included Nobel laureate physicist Sir Roger Penrose among its authors.\n\nUsing a device the team calls the \"Quantum Galileo Interferometer,\" researchers cooled rubidium atoms to just above absolute zero on an atom chip, then split each atom's quantum wave into two paths: one held stationary, the other released into free fall. Recombining the paths revealed an almost imperceptible phase difference consistent with Einstein's century-old prediction that gravity affects all objects identically regardless of their composition or state.\n\nLead author Ron Folman said the result does not unify quantum mechanics and general relativity, but shows the two frameworks remain consistent where they overlap. \"This experiment gives more hints as to how such a unification may be achieved,\" he said. Physicists have long sought experimental cracks in the equivalence principle as a possible doorway to a theory of quantum gravity; this test found none."}}