Characterization of quantum and classical correlations in the Earth’s curved space-time

Abstract

The preparation of quantum systems and the execution of quantum information tasks between distant users are always affected by gravitational and relativistic effects. In this work, we quantitatively analyze how the curved space-time background of the Earth affects the classical and quantum correlations between photon pairs that are initially prepared in a two-mode squeezed state. More specifically, considering the rotation of the Earth, the space-time around the Earth is described by the Kerr metric. Our results show that these state correlations, which initially increase for a specific range of satellite’s orbital altitude, will gradually approach a finite value with increasing height of satellite’s orbit (when the special relativistic effects become relevant). More importantly, our analysis demonstrates that the changes of correlations generated by the total gravitational frequency shift could reach the level of < 0.5 % within the satellite’s height at geostationary Earth orbits.