English

Macroscopic Quantum Mechanics in a Classical Spacetime

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2013-05-01 v3

Abstract

We apply the many-particle Schr\"{o}dinger-Newton equation, which describes the co-evolution of an many-particle quantum wave function and a classical space-time geometry, to macroscopic mechanical objects. By averaging over motions of the objects' internal degrees of freedom, we obtain an effective Schr\"odinger-Newton equation for their centers of mass, which are degrees of freedom that can be monitored and manipulated at the quantum mechanical levels by state-of-the-art optoemchanics experiments. For a single macroscopic object moving quantum mechanically within a harmonic potential well, we found that its quantum uncertainty evolves in a different frequency from its classical eigenfrequency --- with a difference that depends on the internal structure of the object, and can be observable using current technology. For several objects, the Schr\"odinger-Newton equation predicts semiclassical motions just like Newtonian physics, yet they do not allow quantum uncertainty to be transferred from one object to another through gravity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1210.0457,
  title  = {Macroscopic Quantum Mechanics in a Classical Spacetime},
  author = {Huan Yang and Haixing Miao and Da-Shin Lee and Bassam Helou and Yanbei Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1210.0457},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

5+3 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-21T22:14:01.395Z