Present status and future challenges of non-interferometric tests of collapse models
Present status and future challenges of non-interferometric tests of collapse models
The superposition principle is the cornerstone of quantum mechanics, leading to a variety of genuinely quantum effects. Whether the principle applies also to macroscopic systems or, instead, there is a progressive breakdown when moving to larger scales is a fundamental and still open question. Spontaneous wavefunction collapse models predict the latter option, thus questioning the universality of quantum mechanics. Technological advances allow to increasingly challenge collapse models and the quantum superposition principle, with a variety of different experiments. Among them, non-interferometric experiments proved to be the most effective in testing these models. We provide an overview of such experiments, including cold atoms, optomechanical systems, X-ray detection, bulk heating and comparisons with cosmological observations. We also discuss avenues for future dedicated experiments, which aim at further testing collapse models and the validity of quantum mechanics.
243–250
Carlesso, Matteo
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Donadi, Sandro
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Ferialdi, Luca
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Paternostro, Mauro
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Ulbricht, Hendrik
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Bassi, Angelo
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March 2022
Carlesso, Matteo
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Donadi, Sandro
e51dd71f-ca70-4aab-b5ac-abc79d61dd25
Ferialdi, Luca
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Paternostro, Mauro
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Ulbricht, Hendrik
5060dd43-2dc1-47f8-9339-c1a26719527d
Bassi, Angelo
374a70f7-61f8-4656-bb45-5857695750f1
Carlesso, Matteo, Donadi, Sandro, Ferialdi, Luca, Paternostro, Mauro, Ulbricht, Hendrik and Bassi, Angelo
(2022)
Present status and future challenges of non-interferometric tests of collapse models.
Nature Physics, 18 (3), .
(doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01489-5).
Abstract
The superposition principle is the cornerstone of quantum mechanics, leading to a variety of genuinely quantum effects. Whether the principle applies also to macroscopic systems or, instead, there is a progressive breakdown when moving to larger scales is a fundamental and still open question. Spontaneous wavefunction collapse models predict the latter option, thus questioning the universality of quantum mechanics. Technological advances allow to increasingly challenge collapse models and the quantum superposition principle, with a variety of different experiments. Among them, non-interferometric experiments proved to be the most effective in testing these models. We provide an overview of such experiments, including cold atoms, optomechanical systems, X-ray detection, bulk heating and comparisons with cosmological observations. We also discuss avenues for future dedicated experiments, which aim at further testing collapse models and the validity of quantum mechanics.
Text
2203.04231
- Accepted Manuscript
Available under License Other.
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 8 December 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 February 2022
Published date: March 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We acknowledge fruitful discussions with R. Penrose and A. Vinante on various aspects of the models and related experiments. M.C. and M.P. are supported by UK EPSRC (grant no. EP/T028106/1). S.D. and A.B. acknowledge financial support from INFN. L.F., M.P., H.U. and A.B. acknowledge financial support from the H2020 FET Project TEQ (grant no. 766900). M.P. acknowledges the SFI-DfE Investigators Programme (grant no. 15/IA/2864), the Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant UltraQute (grant no. RGP-2018-266), the Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellowship scheme (grant no. RSWF\R3\183013) and International Mobility Programme. H.U. acknowledges financial support from the Leverhulme Trust (grant no. RPG-2016-04) and EPSRC (grant no. EP/V000624/1). A.B. acknowledges the Foundational Questions Institute and Fetzer Franklin Fund, a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation (grant no. FQXi-RFP-CPW-2002), and the University of Trieste.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Springer Nature Limited.
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Local EPrints ID: 456116
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/456116
ISSN: 1745-2473
PURE UUID: 30d467bb-b9cc-49bb-9657-1e5b9e9ca8d6
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Date deposited: 26 Apr 2022 14:53
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 07:13
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Author:
Matteo Carlesso
Author:
Sandro Donadi
Author:
Luca Ferialdi
Author:
Mauro Paternostro
Author:
Angelo Bassi
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