Gravitation at the Mesoscopic Scale

Abstract

Free fall experiments are discussed by using test masses associated to quantum states not necessarily possessing a classical counterpart. The times of flight of the Galilean experiments using classical test masses are replaced in the quantum case by probability distributions which, although still not defined in an uncontroversial manner, become manifestly dependent upon the mass and the initial state. Such a dependence is also expected in non-inertial frames of reference if the weak equivalence principle still holds. The latter could be tested, merging recent achievements in mesoscopic physics, by using cooled atoms in free fall and accelerated frames initially prepared in nonclassical quantum states.