Precision tests of quantum mechanics and CPT symmetry with entangled neutral kaons at KLOE

The quantum interference between the decays of entangled neutral kaons is studied in the process KSKL -> pi+pi−pi+pi−, which exhibits the characteristic Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations that prevent both kaons to decay into pi+pi− at the same time. This constitutes a very powerful tool for testing at the utmost precision the quantum coherence of the entangled kaon pair state, and to search for tiny decoherence and CPT violation effects, which may be justified in a quantum gravity framework. The analysed data sample was collected with the KLOE detector at DAFNE, the Frascati phi-factory, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 1.7 fb−1, i.e. to about 1.7 × 10^9 KSKL decays produced. From the fit of the observed Delta-t distribution, being Delta-t the difference of the kaon decay times, the decoherence and CPT violation parameters of various phenomenological models are measured with a largely improved accuracy with respect to previous analyses. The results are consistent with no deviation from quantum mechanics and CPT symmetry, while for some parameters the precision reaches the interesting level at which - in the most optimistic scenarios - quantum gravity effects might show up. They provide the most stringent limits up to date on the considered models.