Quantum Entanglement and Decoherence Due to Coupling of Protons to Electronic Environment

Abstract

In recent years many scattering experiments have been performed on hydrogen containing materials which showed a scattering behavior different from the expectation according to standard theories. These scattering anomalies are attributed to the existence of short lived protonic quantum entanglement (QE) and decoherence. It was suggested that also electronic degrees of freedom might be involved in the anomalous scattering behavior. Here, the influence of the electronic structure surrounding the H atoms in different materials on the neutron scattering cross section of hydrogen is investigated. Experimental neutron Compton scattering results of H₂O / D₂O mixtures and LiH at different temperatures are presented. Also LaH₂ which exhibits metallic properties and LaH₃ which is an insulator — i.e., both materials have different electronic structures — are investigated at room temperature. It is found that different electronic environments lead to different scattering behavior, thus strongly supporting the supposition that the electronic degrees of freedom are engaged in the protonic attosecond QE and the decoherence process. Furthermore, we present very recent results of experimental tests of the data analysis procedure which have been criticized recently. We show that the data analysis procedure is correct and criticisms are irrelevant for the experimental setup used in our NCS experiments.