English

First constraint on Born-rule violations at high-energy colliders

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-07-08 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

We obtain an experimental constraint on possible Born-rule violations at high-energy colliders. We model Born-rule violations with differential scattering cross sections dσ/dΩd\sigma/d\Omega subject to an angular smearing by a narrow Gaussian of width ε\varepsilon (with respect to x=cosθx=\cos\theta for scattering angle θ\theta). For large-angle Bhabha (e+ee+ee^{+}e^{-} \rightarrow e^{+}e^{-}) scattering, at a centre-of-mass energy s=29GeV\sqrt{s}=29\, \mathrm{GeV}, data from the PEP collider at SLAC allow us to set an upper bound of ε<0.042\varepsilon<0.042 at 95%95\% confidence. This corresponds to a Gaussian smearing over an angular range of twice the experimental bin width, and hence provides a physically meaningful limit on deviations from the Born rule. Future prospects for improving this limit are discussed.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.06938,
  title  = {First constraint on Born-rule violations at high-energy colliders},
  author = {Antony Valentini and Mira Varma},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.06938},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

6 pages, RevTex, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-22T20:31:36.834Z