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Equation 1 · Part 9 · The Oldest Quantum-Gravity Experiment Is a Neutron Falling

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En=εn(ℏ2mg2g22mi)1/3E_n = \varepsilon_n \left(\frac{\hbar^2 m_{g}^2 g^2}{2 m_{i}}\right)^{1/3}
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What this part means

A raised number can be a power. When it is a label or bound, it selects a case or the upper limit of a sum; the formula’s structure distinguishes these uses.

Its job in the formula

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The passage around this formula

Above a perfectly reflecting mirror, a neutron’s Schrödinger equation is about as simple as a bound-state problem gets: an infinite wall at the mirror’s surface and a linear potential rising above it, gravity playing the same role a laser trap or a magnetic bottle plays in every other cold-atom experiment. The exact solutions are Airy functions, and the allowed energies are En=εn(ℏ2mg2g22mi)1/3E_n = \varepsilon_n \left(\frac{\hbar^2 m_{g}^2 g^2}{2 m_{i}}\right)^{1/3}. where εn\varepsilon_n is the n -th negative zero of the Airy function — 2.338, 4.088, 5.521, 6.787, and so on — and the mass has been split deliberately into a gravitational piece mgm_{g} , which sets how hard the potential pulls, and an inertial piece mim_{i} , which sets how the wavefunction spreads in…

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An exponent tells how a base is used in multiplication. In x³, x is the base and 3 is the exponent: x³ = x × x × x.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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