We present a new operational framework for studying "superpositions of spacetimes," which are of fundamental interest in the development of a theory of quantum gravity. Our approach capitalizes on nonlocal correlations in curved spacetime quantum field theory, allowing us to formulate a metric for spacetime superpositions as well as characterizing the coupling of particle detectors to a quantum field. We apply our approach to analyze the dynamics of a detector (using the Unruh-deWitt model) in a spacetime generated by a Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black hole in a superposition of masses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForward and backward walking are remarkably similar motor behaviors to the extent that backward walking has been described as a time-reversed version of forward walking. However, because they display different muscle activity patterns, it has been questioned if forward and backward walking share common control strategies. To investigate this point, we used a split-belt treadmill experimental paradigm designed to elicit healthy individuals' motor adaptation by changing the speed of one of the treadmill belts, while keeping the speed of the other belt constant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantum field theory is completely characterized by the field correlations between spacetime points. In turn, some of these can be accessed by locally coupling to the field simple quantum systems, also known as particle detectors. In this letter we consider what happens when a quantum-controlled superposition of detectors at different space-time points is used to probe the correlations of the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Bioeng Biotechnol
June 2020
The adaptation to visuomotor rotations is one of the most studied paradigms of motor learning. Previous literature has presented evidence of a dependency between the process of adaptation to visuomotor rotations and the constrains dictated by the workspace of the biological actuators, the muscles, and their co-activation strategies, modeled using muscle synergies analysis. To better understand this relationship, we asked a sample of healthy individuals ( = 7) to perform two experiments aiming at characterizing the adaptation to visuomotor rotations in terms of rotations of the activation space of the muscle synergies during isometric reaching tasks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe phase of matter waves depends on proper time and is therefore susceptible to special-relativistic (kinematic) and gravitational (redshift) time dilation. Hence, it is conceivable that atom interferometers measure general-relativistic time-dilation effects. In contrast to this intuition, we show that (i) closed light-pulse interferometers without clock transitions during the pulse sequence are not sensitive to gravitational time dilation in a linear potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTime has a fundamentally different character in quantum mechanics and in general relativity. In quantum theory events unfold in a fixed order while in general relativity temporal order is influenced by the distribution of matter. When matter requires a quantum description, temporal order is expected to become non-classical-a scenario beyond the scope of current theories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMotor adaptations are useful for studying the way in which the lower limbs are controlled by the brain. However, motor adaptation paradigms for the lower limbs are typically based on locomotion tasks, where the necessity of maintaining postural stability is the main driver of adaptation and could possibly mask other underlying processes. In this study we investigated whether small temporal or spatial asymmetries can trigger motor adaptations during stationary cycling, where stability is not directly compromised.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHumans can adapt their motor commands in response to alterations in the movement environment. This is achieved by tuning different motor primitives, generating adaptations that can be generalized also to relevant untrained scenarios. A theory of motor primitives has shown that natural movements can be described as combinations of muscle synergies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng
December 2017
Explicit motor imagery (eMI) is a widely used brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm, but not everybody can accomplish this task. Here, we propose a BCI based on implicit motor imagery (iMI). We compared classification accuracy between eMI and iMI of hands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLaser interferometry is a measurement technique used in physical sciences, with a potential for new applications in microbiology. Our previously studies, focused on the quantitative analysis of antibiotics diffusion through membranes or their releasing from gel structure, indicate that this method might be useful in analysis of substances diffusion across the bacterial biofilms. As antibiotic - biofilm interaction model, we tested above method for determination of ciprofloxacin or gentamicin diffusion through Proteus mirabilis O18 biofilm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrent attempts to probe general relativistic effects in quantum mechanics focus on precision measurements of phase shifts in matter-wave interferometry. Yet, phase shifts can always be explained as arising because of an Aharonov-Bohm effect, where a particle in a flat space-time is subject to an effective potential. Here we propose a quantum effect that cannot be explained without the general relativistic notion of proper time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTextile medical products can be widely used as barrier materials and individual protection against biological threats. Rules of introducing such products to market are regulated by the Directive 93/42/ EEC. Detailed requirements and testing methods of textile medical products are presented in obligatory norms.
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