6pp Latex, based on the talk at 4th Intl. Workshop DICE2008 "From Quantum Mechanics through Complexity to Spacetime: the role of emergent dynamical structures" Castiglioncello (Tuscany), Sept 22-26, 2008
We give a twist to the assumption - discussed in various earlier works - that gravity plays a role in the collapse of the wave function. This time we discuss the contrary assumption that the collapse of the wave function plays a role in the emergence of the gravitational field. We start from the mathematical framework of a particular Newtonian gravitational collapse theory proposed by the author longtime ago, and we reconciliate it with the classical equivalence principle.
It is shown that the Diósi-Penrose criterion of gravity-induced quantum collapse may be inconsistent with the discreteness of space-time, which is generally considered as an indispensable element in a complete theory of quantum gravity. Moreover, the analysis also suggests that the discreteness of space-time may result in rapider collapse of the superposition of energy eigenstates than required by the Diósi-Penrose criterion.
Selected issues of the concept of spontaneous collapse are discussed, with the emphasis on the gravity-related model. We point out that without spontaneous collapses the Schrödinger cat states would macroscopically violate the standard conservation laws even in the presence of environmental noise. We prove that the collapse time of condensed matter c.o.m. superpositions is not sensitive to the natural uncertainty of the nuclear locations whereas we formulate the conjecture that superfluid He may show an anomalous low rate of spontaneous collapse compared to common condensed matter.
The speculation that gravity is the key to solving the quantum measurement problem has been alive for decades, without any convincing demonstration of a solution. One necessary factor in the relevant proposals is that the gravitational energy of mutual interaction, which scales quadratically with the mass, facilitates the spontaneous collapse of the wavefunctions in spatially separated superpositions. Relying on a simple physical input from electrodynamics, supported by robust first principle calculations, we show that the speculations connecting gravity and the hypothetical spontaneous collap…
This article is a brief survey of some approaches to implementing the suggestion that collapse of the wave function is mediated by gravity. These approaches include: a possible connection between the problem of time and problem of quantum measurement, decoherence models based on space-time uncertainty, the Schrödinger-Newton equation, attempts to introduce gravity into collapse models such as CSL, ideas based on the black hole - elementary particle complementarity, and the possible role of a complex space-time metric.
Collapse-based models for gravity do not violate the entanglement-based witness of non-classicality
QICI Quantum Information and Computation Initiative, School of Computing and Data Science, The University of Hong Kong（香港大学计算与数据科学学院量子信息与计算倡议）；Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford（牛津大学克拉伦登实验室）
I impose the Newtonian criteria of inertial frames on the c.o.m. trajectories of massive objects undergoing spontaneous collapse of their wave function. The corresponding modification of the so far used stochastic Schrödinger equation eliminates the Brownian motion of the c.o.m., restores the exact inertial motion for free masses. For the collapse of Schrödinger cat states the Born rule is satisfied invariably. The proposed machinery comes from the radical assumption that, in the vicinity of the spontaneously localized mass, the stochastic fluctuations of the c.o.m. ---inevitable in the collap…
According to Penrose, the fundamental conflict between the superposition principle of quantum mechanics and the principle of general covariance of general relativity entails the existence of wavefunction collapse, e.g. a quantum superposition of two different space-time geometries will collapse to one of them due to the ill-definedness of the time-translation operator for the superposition. In this paper, we argue that Penrose's conjecture on gravity's role in wavefunction collapse is debatable. First of all, it is still a controversial issue what the exact nature of the conflict is and how to…
We display a number of advantages of objective collapse theories for the resolution of long-standing problems in cosmology and quantum gravity. In particular, we examine applications of objective reduction models to three important issues: the origin of the seeds of cosmic structure, the problem of time in quantum gravity and the information loss paradox; we show how reduction models contain the necessary tools to provide solutions for these issues. We wrap up with an adventurous proposal, which relates the spontaneous collapse events of objective collapse models to microscopic virtual black h…
Roger Penrose and the author share the proposal that the spatial superposition $|x_1\rangle+|x_2\rangle$ of a massive object collapses into its localized components $|x_1\rangle$ or $|x_2\rangle$ with the characteristic time $\hbar/E_Δ$ where $E_Δ$ is the gravitational self-energy excess of the superposition versus the localized states. Underlying arguments of such radical departure from standard quantum mechanics and different derivations of the rate equation are briefly recapitulated and discussed.
In the DP-model, gravity-related spontaneous wave function collapses suppress undesirable Schrödinger Cat states. We derive the equations of the model for the hydrodynamic-elastic (acoustic) modes in a bulk. Two particular features are discussed: the universal dominance of spontaneous collapses at large wavelengths, and the reduction of spontaneous heating by a slight refinement of the DP-model.
The gravity-related model of spontaneous wave function collapse, a longtime hypothesis, damps the massive Schrödinger Cat states in quantum theory. We extend the hypothesis and assume that spontaneous wave function collapses are responsible for the emergence of Newton interaction. Superfluid helium would then show significant and testable gravitational anomalies.
There are various reasons to believe that quantum theory could be an emergent phenomenon. Trace Dynamics is an underlying classical dynamics of non-commuting matrices, from which quantum theory and classical mechanics have been shown to emerge, in the thermodynamic approximation. However, the time that is used to describe evolution in quantum theory is an external classical time, and is in turn expected to be an emergent feature - a relic of an underlying theory of quantum gravity. In this essay we borrow ideas from Trace Dynamics to show that classical time is a thermodynamic approximation to…
It is pointed out that the Diosi-Penrose ansatz for gravity-induced quantum state reduction can be tested by observing oscillations in the flavor ratios of neutrinos originated at cosmological distances. Since such a test would be almost free of environmental decoherence, testing the ansatz by means of a next generation neutrino detector such as IceCube would be much cleaner than by experiments proposed so far involving superpositions of macroscopic systems. The proposed microscopic test would also examine the universality of superposition principle at unprecedented cosmological scales.
We interpret the probability rule of the CSL collapse theory to mean that the scalar field which causes collapse is the grvitational curvature scalar with two sources, the expectation value of the mass density and a white noise fluctuating source. We examine two models of the fluctuating source, monopole fluctuations and dipole fluctuations, and show that these correspond to two well known collapse models. We relate the two GRW parameters of CSL to fundamental constants, and explain the energy increase as arising from the loss of vacuum gravitational energy. It is shown how a problem with semi…
Starting from an idea of S.L. Adler~\cite{Adler2015}, we develop a novel model of gravity-induced spontaneous wave-function collapse. The collapse is driven by complex stochastic fluctuations of the spacetime metric. After deriving the fundamental equations, we prove the collapse and amplification mechanism, the two most important features of a consistent collapse model. Under reasonable simplifying assumptions, we constrain the strength $ξ$ of the complex metric fluctuations with available experimental data. We show that $ξ\geq 10^{-26}$ in order for the model to guarantee classicality of mac…
We discuss a model where a spontaneous quantum collapse is induced by the gravitational interaction, treated classically. Its dynamics couples the standard wave function of a system with the Bohmian positions of its particles, which are considered as the only source of the gravitational attraction. The collapse is obtained by adding a small imaginary component to the gravitational coupling. It predicts extremely small perturbations of microscopic systems, but very fast collapse of QSMDS (quantum superpositions of macroscopically distinct quantum states) of a solid object, varying as the fifth …
Inspired by possible connections between gravity and foundational question in quantum theory, we consider an approach for the adaptation of objective collapse models to a general relativistic context. We apply these ideas to a list of open problems in cosmology and quantum gravity, such as the emergence of seeds of cosmic structure, the black hole information issue, the problem of time in quantum gravity and, in a more speculative manner, to the nature of dark energy and the origin of the very special initial state of the universe. We conclude that objective collapse models offer a rather prom…
A relativistic version of the Schr{ö}dinger-Newton equation is analyzed within the recently proposed Grave de Peralta approach [L. Grave de Peralta, {\em Results Phys.} {\bf 18} (2020) 103318], which include relativistic effects by a parametrization of the non-relativistic hamiltonian, so as to impose that the average kinetic energy of the system coincide with its relativistic kinetic energy. The reliability of this method is tested for the particle in a box. By applying this method to the Schr{ö}dinger-Newton equation we shows that the characteristic length of the model [L. Di{ó}si, {\em Phys…
A gravity-induced approach to wavefunction collapse based on semiclassical gravity is enhanced by the hypothesis of a temporally expanding spacetime, which leads to a collapse model that can resolve the conflict between quantum nonlocality and relativity. It is postulated that the spacetime region on which the evolution of the state vector exists is bounded towards the future by a border that is dynamically moving towards the future, and at which the state vector must fulfil a boundary condition. Wavefunction collapse is represented in such a way that the evolution of the state vector changes …
We consider experimental evidence for the hypothesis that the Planck energy, $E_p \approx 10^{19}GeV$, sets the scale $ε$ at which wave function collapse causes deviations from linear Schrödinger evolution. With a few plausible assumptions about the collapse process, we first show that the observed CP violation in $K_L$ decay implies a lower bound on $ε$ remarkably close to $E_p$. If the bound is saturated, the entire CP violation is due to collapse and a prediction made that the branching ratio for CP violation in the B meson decay will be $γ\approx 10^{-5}$. We then show that the assumptions…
A new approach to wavefunction collapse is prepared by an analysis of semiclassical gravity. The fact that, in semiclassical gravity, superposed states must share a common classical spacetime geometry, even if they prefer (according to general relativity) differently curved spacetimes, leads to energy increases of the states, when their mass distributions are different. If one interprets these energy increases divided by Planck's constant as decay rates of the states, one obtains the lifetimes of superpositions according to the Diosi-Penrose criterion and reduction probabilities according to B…
In this paper we examine some proposals to disprove the hypothesis that the interaction between mind and matter causes the collapse of the wave function, showing that such proposals are fundamentally flawed. We then describe a general experimental setup retaining the key features of the ones examined, and show that even a more general case is inadequate to disprove the mind-matter collapse hypothesis. Finally, we use our setup provided to argue that, under some reasonable assumptions about consciousness, such hypothesis is unfalsifiable.
Roger Penrose proposed that a spatial quantum superposition collapses as a back-reaction from spacetime, which is curved in different ways by each branch of the superposition. In this sense, one speaks of gravity-related wave function collapse. He also provided a heuristic formula to compute the decay time of the superposition $\mathord{-}$ similar to that suggested earlier by Lajos Diósi, hence the name Diósi-Penrose model. The collapse depends on the effective size of the mass density of particles in the superposition, and is random: this randomness shows up as a diffusion of the particles' …
The old cosmological-constant (CC) problem indicates an inconsistency of the usual formulation of semiclassical gravity. The usual formulation of semiclassical gravity also seems to be inconsistent with the conventional interpretation of quantum mechanics based on the discontinuous wave-function collapse. By reformulating semiclassical gravity in terms of Bohmian deterministic particle trajectories, the resulting semiclassical theory avoids both the old CC problem and the discontinuous collapse problem of the usual semiclassical theory. The relevance to the new CC problem and to particle creat…
Using as a testbed the recently proposed "gravcat" experimental scheme in [1], we compare the properties of gravitational cat states in three descriptions: (1) canonical quantum theory (CQT) combined with the Newtonian limit of GR, (2) objective collapse theories (OCTs) extended to the regime of semiclassical Newtonian gravity, and (3) OCTs extended to incorporate quantized Newtonian gravity. For the CQT approach, we follow the treatment of Hu and Anastopoulos in [2]. For the OCTs, we consider the GRW, CSL, DP, and Karolyhazy theories, based on the semiclassical approaches of Derakhshani [3] a…
We describe an experimental test of whether particle decay causes wave function collapse. The test uses interference between two well separated, but coherent, sources of vector mesons. The short-lived mesons decay before their wave functions can overlap, so any interference must involve identical final states. Unlike previous tests of nonlocality, the interference involves continuous variables, momentum and position. Interference can only occur if the wave function retains amplitudes for all possible decays. The interference can be studied through the transverse momentum spectrum of the recons…
We investigate the Diósi-Penrose (DP) proposal for connecting the collapse of the wave function to gravity. The DP model needs a free parameter, acting as a cut-off to regularize the dynamics, and the predictions of the model highly depend on the value of this cut-off. The Compton wavelength of a nucleon seems to be the most reasonable cut-off value since it justifies the non-relativistic approach. However, with this value, the DP model predicts an unrealistic high rate of energy increase. Thus, one either is forced to choose a much larger cut-off, which is not physically justified and totally…
