Entanglement creation in Compton scattering of neutrons on protons and its possible energetic consequences

It has been predicted that entanglement creation should be associated with a lowering of energy (as well as the well-known decrease of entropy) for certain types of interaction potentials. This is a principally important question and it is shown here that np-scattering has specific features that would make it suitable for experimental tests of this prediction using neutron scattering on hydrogen at high angles. For this purpose, the evolution of n-p entanglement in Compton scattering on protons at epithermal energies (20–200 eV) is calculated over the separation distance 0–1 A, corresponding to times up to 10−15 s after the collision. If an energy transfer is associated with the entanglement, it ought to be observable under these measurement conditions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.