Perspectives of quantum gradiometry in geophysical applications. Preliminary simulations from FIQUgS project.

It is known that gravity observations can be exploited to characterize subsurface mass density distribution and this can be useful for many scientific and industrial applications. In recent years, quantum gravity sensors have proved to be competitive instruments with respect to classical gravimeters and in the framework of the FIQUgS project, funded by the European commission in 2022, a new generation of quantum gravity and gradiometry sensors is under development with the aim to overcome the barriers limiting the operational usage of first-generation ones. In this context, a review of applications which would benefit from the advantages of next generation quantum gravity sensors has been performed. The analyzed applications have been divided in two macro-sectors: the static applications aimed at retrieving the density distribution within an area to distinguish different targets and time variable applications focused on the analysis of temporal variations of potential field signals linked to mass changes. Different scenarios have been considered and by means of specific synthetic simulations, the capabilities of the new gravimeters technology have been assessed and the results will be here discussed.