Related papers: Breaking quantum linearity: constraints from human…
Collapse models describe the breakdown of the quantum superposition principle when moving from microscopic to macroscopic scales. They are among the possible solutions to the quantum measurement problem and thus describe the emergence of…
Collapse models implement a progressive loss of quantum coherence when the mass and the complexity of quantum systems increase. We will review such models and the current attempts to test their predicted loss of quantum coherence.
Quantum mechanics is an extremely successful theory that agrees with every experiment. However, the principle of linear superposition, a central tenet of the theory, apparently contradicts a commonplace observation: macroscopic objects are…
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…
Classical linear wave superposition produces the appearance of interference. This observation can be interpreted in two equivalent ways: one can assume that interference is an illusion because input components remain unperturbed, or that…
There are four reasons why our present knowledge and understanding of quantum mechanics could be regarded as incomplete. Firstly, the principle of linear superposition has not been experimentally tested for position eigenstates of objects…
The transition from the quantum to the classical realm remains one of the most profound open questions in physics. While quantum theory predicts the existence of macroscopic superpositions, their apparent absence in the everyday world is…
In this work we consider basic principles and problems of the standard quantum mechanical formalism. Especially we consider final measurement or detection procedure (collapse) as a quantum-classical continuous phase transition with…
New technological developments allow to explore the quantum properties of very complex systems, bringing the question of whether also macroscopic systems share such features, within experimental reach. The interest in this question is…
Quantum physics has intrigued scientists and philosophers alike, because it challenges our notions of reality and locality--concepts that we have grown to rely on in our macroscopic world. It is an intriguing open question whether the…
In this work, we propose a simple but effective experiment for probing the boundary in which a wave-function collapses. Using a quantum optics system interacting with a photomultiplier tube (PMT), one is able to determine the number of…
The postulate of the collapse of the wave function stands between the microscopic, quantum world, and the macroscopic world. Because of this intermediate position, the collapse process cannot be examined with the formalism of the quantum…
Modern experiments using nanoscale devices come ever closer to bridging the divide between the quantum and classical realms, bringing experimental tests of objective collapse theories that propose alterations to Schr\"{o}dinger's equation…
A long-standing quantum-mechanical puzzle is whether the collapse of the wave function is a real physical process or simply an epiphenomenon. This puzzle lies at the heart of the measurement problem. One way to choose between the…
Some versions of quantum theory treat wave function collapse as a fundamental physical phenomenon to be described by explicit laws. One motivation is to find a consistent unification of quantum theory and gravity, in which collapse prevents…
There are many theories of quantum gravity, depending on asymptotic boundary conditions, and the amount of supersymmetry. The cosmological constant is one of the fundamental parameters that characterize different theories. If it is…
We propose Bell inequalities for discrete or continuous quantum systems which test the compatibility of quantum physics with an interpretation in terms of deterministic hidden-variable theories. The wave function collapse that occurs in a…
Assuming that Quantum Mechanics is universal and that it can be applied over all scales, then the Universe is allowed to be in a quantum superposition of states, where each of them can correspond to a different space-time geometry. How can…
The collapse challenge for interpretations of quantum mechanics is to build from first principles and your preferred interpretation a complete, observer-free quantum model of the described experiment (involving a photon and two screens),…
The possibility that gravity plays a role in the collapse of the quantum wave function has been considered in the literature, and it is of relevance not only because it would provide a solution to the measurement problem in quantum theory,…