A model of spontaneous wavefunction collapse, which is explicitly local and Lorentz-invariant, is defined. Some of the predictions of the model for specific experimental situations are derived. It is shown that, although incompatible collapses, e.g. on opposite sides of an EPR-type of experiment, can occur, they will not persist in time and that eventually only compatible results will be obtained. The probabilities of particular results, however, will in general not agree with the predictions of quantum theory. We argue that it is unlikely that the deviations would have been seen in any experiment yet performed.
Recent quantum reconstruction projects demand pure unitary time evolution which seems to contradict the collapse postulate. Inspired by Zurek's environment assisted invariance idea, a natural unitary realization of wavefunction collapse is proposed using Grothendieck group construction for the tensor product commutative monoid.
It is shown that data on the dissociation rate of deuterium obtained in an experiment at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory provides evidence that the Continuous Spontaneous Localization wavefunction collapse model should have mass--proportional coupling to be viable.
The temporal measurement order and therefore the originator of the instantaneous collapse of the wavefunction of a spatiality entangled particle pair can change depending on the reference frame of an observer. This can lead to a paradox in which its seems that both measurements collapsed the wavefunction before the other. We resolve this paradox by demonstrating how attempting to determine the order of measurement of the entangled pair introduces uncertainty which makes the measurement order impossible to know.
In this paper I present a thought experiment that gives different results depending on whether or not the wavefunction collapses. Since the wavefunction does not obey the Schrodinger equation during the collapse, conservation laws are violated. This is the reason why the results are different. Quantities that are conserved if the wavefunction does not collapse might change if it does. I also show that using the Born Rule to derive probabilities of states before a measurement given the state after it (rather than the other way round as it is usually used) leads to the conclusion that the memori…
Almost a century after the development of quantum mechanics, we still do not have a consensus on the process of collapse of wavefunctions. Some theories require the intervention of a conscious observer while some see it as a stochastic process, and most theories violate energy conservation. In this paper we hypothesise that the collapse of wavefunctions can be caused by interactions with other objects (macroscopic or microscopic) and energy is conserved in that process. To test various hypotheses regarding collapse of wavefunctions, we propose a model system which is the quantum analogue of a …
It was recently proposed that the fringe visibility in the interference pattern of a double-slit diffraction experiment with a HeNe laser beam was reduced as a consequence of the focused attention of participants on the double-slit that initiated the collapse of the photon wavefunction. A thorough examination of the reported apparatus and diffraction pattern data is presented here revealing a number of inconsistencies in the experimental setup. The hypothesis for wavefunction collapse under the proposed experimental conditions is found problematic as the use of single photon sources is demande…
We investigate the specific form that the collapsed quantum state of a signal photon can take when its entangled idler is measured in an entangled ghost imaging configuration using a type II collinear phase matched spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) interaction. Calculation of the correlated counting rate distributions in the ghost image plane and diffraction plane show that agreement between collapse and non-collapse models is obtained if the signal is assumed to collapse into a specific mixed state. However, if the signal is assumed to collapse into a pure state, significant differ…
We propose, as an alternative theory of quantum mechanics, a relativistically covariant variational principle (VP) capable of describing both wavefunction collapse and, as an appropriate limiting case, evolution of the wavefunction according to the standard quantum mechanical (SQM) wave equation. This results in a nonlinear, nonlocal, time-symmetric hidden-variable theory; the hidden variable is the phase of the wavefunction, which affects the dynamics via zitterbewegung. The VP is δ(A_1 + εA_2) = 0, in which A_1 and A_2 are positive definite integrals (over all spacetime) of functions of the …
A quantum many-body model is presented with features similar to those of certain particle detectors. The energy spectrum contains a single metastable 'ready'-state and macroscopically-distinct 'pointer' states. Measurements do not pose paradoxes or require interventions outside the field theory formalism. Transitions into classical-like states can be triggered by a single particle with help of the thermal bath. Schroedinger cat states are associated with superpositions of inequivalent vacua, thus relating wavefunction collapse to the dynamics of symmetry breaking in phase transformations.
It is emphasized that the collapse postulate of standard quantum theory can violate conservation of energy-momentum and there is no indication from where the energy-momentum comes or to where it goes. Likewise, in the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) dynamical collapse model, particles gain energy on average. In CSL, the usual Schrödinger dynamics is altered so that a randomly fluctuating classical field interacts with quantized particles to cause wavefunction collapse. In this paper it is shown how to define energy for the classical field so that the average value of the energy of th…
It is shown that within a quantum system, the wave field has a (potential) energy content that can be exchanged with quantum particles. Energy conservation in quantum systems holds if potential energy is correctly taken to be a field attribute. From this perspective, a transfer of energy occurs on measurement from the wave field to a quantum particle and this provides a physical explanation of what is commonly referred to as the collapse of the wavefunction.
We apply the formalism of quantum measurement theory to the idealized measurement of the position of a particle with an optical interferometer, finding that the backaction of counting entangled photons systematically collapses the particle's wavefunction toward a narrow Gaussian wavepacket at the location $x_\mathrm{est}$ determined by the measurement without appeal to environmental decoherence or other spontaneous collapse mechanism. Further, the variance in the particle's position, as calculated from the post-measurement wavefunction agrees precisely with shot-noise limited uncertainty of th…
The 'collapse' of the wave function in a general measuring process is analyzed by a pure quantum mechanical (QM) approach. The problem of the delayed choice and Welcher-Weg (WW) experiments is analyzed for Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer. The WW effect is related to complementarity principle and orthogonality of wavefunctions although it produces small momentum changes between the electromagnetic (EM) field and the beam-splitters (BS's). For QM states for which we have a superposition of states and interference effects there is no reality before measurement, but by excluding such effects the …
Wavefunction collapse is usually seen as a discontinuous violation of the unitary evolution of a quantum system, caused by the observation. Moreover, the collapse appears to be nonlocal in a sense which seems at odds with General Relativity. In this article the possibility that the wavefunction evolves continuously and hopefully unitarily during the measurement process is analyzed. It is argued that such a solution has to be formulated using a time symmetric replacement of the initial value problem in Quantum Mechanics. Major difficulties in apparent conflict with unitary evolution are identif…
From the point of view of the information theory, a model of the collapse phenomena at the measurement of a spin 1/2 projection is developed. This model phenomenologically includes an observer. The model allows not only to determine the state of a system after the measurement but also to compute the state of the observer. The state of the observer is equivalent to the operator of a spin projection which the observer will measure at the next measurement.
Four problematic circumstances are considered, involving models which describe dynamical wavefunction collapse toward energy eigenstates, for which it is shown that wavefunction collapse of macroscopic objects does not work properly. In one case, a common particle position measuring situation, the apparatus evolves to a superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states (does not collapse to one of them as it should) because each such particle/apparatus/environment state has precisely the same energy spectrum. Second, assuming an experiment takes place involving collapse to one of two pos…
We show using a realistic Hamiltonian-type model that definite outcomes of quantum measurements may emerge from quantum evolution of pure states, i.e quantum dynamics provides a deterministic collapse of the wavefunction in a quantum measurement process. The relaxation of the wavefunction into a pointer state with classical properties is driven by the interaction with an environment. The destruction of superpositions, i.e. choosing a preferred attraction basin and thereby a preferred pointer state, is caused by a tiny nonlinearity in the macroscopic measurement apparatus. In more details, we n…
Energy nonconservation is a serious problem of dynamical collapse theories. In this paper, we propose a discrete model of energy-conserved wavefunction collapse. It is shown that the model is consistent with existing experiments and our macroscopic experience.
Wavefunction collapse models modify Schrödinger's equation so that it describes the collapse of a superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states as a dynamical process. This provides a basis for the resolution of the quantum measurement problem. An additional generic consequence of the collapse mechanism is that it causes particles to exhibit a tiny random diffusive motion. Here it is shown that for the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model---one of the most well developed collapse models---the diffusions of two sufficiently nearby particles are positively correlated. An exp…
Within the class of ontological interpretations of quantum theory where a physical system comprises a particle and a field (wavefunction) guiding it, an empty wave is a segment of the wavefunction not containing the particle. We examine the impact of this concept on the debate between the epistemological and ontological viewpoints. The theoretical merits of the empty wave in avoiding the wavefunction collapse hypothesis, and in supplying conceptual precision in the application of quantum mechanics, are emphasized. Particular reference is made to path detection in interferometry and it is shown…
I propose to resolve the controversy over the speed of collapse of quantum-mechanical wavefunctions by means of an experimental test with a modified symmetric Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer, with non-intersecting, parallel, widely separated final beams. According to the conventional collapse scenario, the coherent twin-peak atomic wavefunction in the beams of the interferometer suffers an instantaneous collapse, at infinite speed, when the atom is captured by one of the two detectors at the ends of the beams, but it remains coherent until that instant. In contrast, according to the Hellwig-K…
A single quantum particle can be described by a wavefunction that spreads over arbitrarily large distances, but it is never detected in two (or more) places. This strange phenomenon is explained in quantum theory by what Einstein repudiated as "spooky action at a distance": the instantaneous nonlocal collapse of the wavefunction to wherever the particle is detected. We demonstrate this single-particle spooky action, for the first time with no efficiency loophole, by splitting a single photon between two laboratories and experimentally testing if the choice of measurement in one lab really caus…
Peter Lewis ([1997]) has recently argued that the wavefunction collapse theory of GRW (Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber [1986]) can only solve the problem of wavefunction tails at the expense of predicting that arithmetic does not apply to ordinary macroscopic objects. More specifically, Lewis argues that the GRW theory must violate the enumeration principle: that `if marble 1 is in the box and marble 2 is in the box and so on through marble $n$, then all $n$ marbles are in the box' ([1997], p. 321). Ghirardi and Bassi ([1999]) have replied that it is meaningless to say that the enumeration princip…
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 …
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…
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 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…
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…
We propose a mechanism for testing the theory of collapse models such as continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) by examining the parametric heating rate of a trapped nanosphere. The random localizations of the centre-of-mass for a given particle predicted by the CSL model can be understood as a stochastic force embodying a source of heating for the nanosphere. We show that by utilising a Paul trap to levitate the particle and optical cooling, it is possible to reduce environmental decoherence to such a level that CSL dominates the dynamics and contributes the main source of heating. We show…
Levitated nano-oscillators are seen as promising platforms for testing fundamental physics and testing quantum mechanics in a new high mass regime. Levitation allows extreme isolation from the environment, reducing the decoherence processes that are crucial for these sensitive experiments. A fundamental property of any oscillator is its line width and mechanical quality factor, Q. Narrow line widths in the microHertz regime and mechanical Q's as high as $10^{12}$ have been predicted for levitated systems, but to date, the poor stability of these oscillators over long periods have prevented dir…
Two thought experiments are analyzed, revealing that the quantum state of the universe does not contain definitive evidence of the wavefunction collapse. The first thought experiment shows that unitary quantum evolution alone can account for the outcomes of any combination of quantum experiments. This is in contradiction with the standard view on quantum measurement, which appeals to the wavefunction collapse, but it is in full agreement with the special state proposal (L.S. Schulman in Phys Lett A 102(9):396-400, 1984; J Stat Phys 42(3):689-719 1986; Time's arrows and quantum measurement, Cam…
In this short communication, I gave a generalization of measurement postulate in quantum mechanics. It is regarding the case with partial measurement, namely, measurement on only part of a wave function. Upon a partial measurement, the wavefunction will either collapse in one of the eigenstate covered by the measured partial wavefunction; or collapses out of the measured part and shifts to the unmeasured part. An explanation in the WISE (Wavefunction Is System Entity) interpretation is given.
We propose a modified dynamics of quantum mechanics, in which classical mechanics of a point mass derives intrinsically in a massive limit of a single-particle model. On the premise that a position basis plays a special role in wavefunction collapse, we deduce to formalize spontaneous localization of wavefunction on the analogy drawn from thermodynamics, in which a characteristic energy scale and a time scale are introduced to separate quantum and classical regimes.
We first consider the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox for the system of two particles with spin 1/2 with entangled spins in first-quantized quantum mechanics (QM). If measurement is governed by wavefunction collapse, then gedanken experiments show that a number of fundamental principles including conservation of angular momentum and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle can be violated. We conclude that the collapse of the spin part of the wavefunction cannot happen and therefore an EPR paradox does not arise for this system. QM unitarity alone is sufficient to rule out "spooky" action at…
If the initial quantum state of the universe is a multiverse superposition over many different sets of values of the effective coupling "constants" of physics, and if this quantum state collapses to an eigenstate of the set of coupling "constants" with a probability purely proportional to the absolute square of the amplitude (with no additional factor for something like life or consciousness), then one should not expect that the coupling `constants' would be so biophilic as they are observed to be. Therefore, the observed biophilic values (apparent fine tuning) of the coupling "constants" is s…
An experiment for checking the Dynamical Spacetime approach to wavefunction collapse is proposed. The Dynamical Spacetime approach predicts deviations from Born's rule, when a solid evolves into a three-state superposition, and when the displacement between the superposed states is, at the reduction point in time, significantly larger than the spatial variation of the solids nuclei, being typically on the order of a tenth of an Angstroem. The solid is brought into the three-state superposition by splitting a photon into three beams and by detecting it in each beam by avalanche photodiodes, whi…
Wavefunction collapse models modify Schrodinger's equation so that it describes the rapid evolution of a superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states to one of them. This provides a phenomenological basis for a physical resolution to the so-called "measurement problem." Such models have experimentally testable differences from standard quantum theory. The most well developed such model at present is the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model in which a fluctuating classical field interacts with particles to cause collapse. One "side effect" of this interaction is that the f…
Penrose has been advocating the view that the collapse of the wave function is rooted in the incompatibility between general relativity and quantum mechanics. On the basis of conceptual analysis, he arrived at an estimate for the collapse time. To better understand his estimate, in this paper we present a thought experiment, which singles out the role of time-dilations in massive superpositions. First we investigate the behavior of a hypothetical clock containing a component which can be in a superposition of states. The clock contains a massive object, whose only purpose is to introduce a cur…
We consider the black hole information problem within the context of collapse theories in a scheme that allows the incorporation of the backreaction to the Hawking radiation. We explore the issue in a setting of the two dimensional version of black hole evaporation known as the Russo-Susskind-Thorlacius model. We summarize the general ideas based on the semiclassical version of Einstein's equations and then discuss specific modifications that are required in the context of collapse theories when applied to this model.
In a two-part system the "collapse of the wavefunction" of one part can put the other part in a state which would be difficult or impossible to achieve otherwise, in particular one sensitive to small effects in the `collapse' interaction. We present some applications to the very symmeteric and experimentally accessible situations of the decays $ϕ(1020)\to K^oK^o$, $ψ(3770)\to D^oD^o$, or $Υ(4s)\to B^oB^o$, involving the internal state of the two-state $K^o$, $D^o$ or $B^o$ mesons. The "collapse of the wavefunction" occasioned by a decay of one member of the pair (`away side') fixes the state v…
The von Neumann collapse of the quantum mechanical wavefunction after a position measurement is derived by a purely probabilistic mechanism in the context of Nelson's stochastic mechanics.
This is a review of formalisms and models (nonrelativistic and relativistic) which modify Schrodinger's equation so that it describes wavefunction collapse as a dynamical physical process.
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.
This paper is an in depth implementation of the proposal that the quantum measurement issue can be resolved by carefully looking at top-down contextual effects within realistic measurement contexts. The specific setup of the measurement apparatus determines the possible events that can take place. The interaction of local heat baths with a quantum system plays a key role in the process. In contrast to the usual attempts to explain quantum measurement by decoherence, we argue that the heat bath follows unitary time evolution only over limited length and time scales and thus leads to localizatio…
A typical feature of spontaneous collapse models which aim at localizing wavefunctions in space is the violation of the principle of energy conservation. In the models proposed in the literature the stochastic field which is responsible for the localization mechanism causes the momentum to behave like a Brownian motion, whose larger and larger fluctuations show up as a steady increase of the energy of the system. In spite of the fact that, in all situations, such an increase is small and practically undetectable, it is an undesirable feature that the energy of physical systems is not conserved…
