Related papers: A simple gravitational self-decoherence model
Among the many worthwhile quantum experiments taking advantage of long baselines in space, this white paper points to the far-reaching significance of gravitational decoherence experiments. These experiments can provide clues as to whether…
Each approach to the quantum-gravity problem originates from expertise in one or another area of theoretical physics. The particle-physics perspective encourages one to attempt to reproduce in quantum gravity as much as possible of the…
The Copenhagen interpretation has been remarkably successful but seems at odds with the underlying linearity of quantum mechanics. We show how it can emerge in a simple way from the underlying microscopic quantum world governed by…
It is argued that, contrary to conventional wisdom, no trustworthy universal self-force/radiative corrections to the Lorentz force equation, can be derived from the basic tenets of classical electrodynamics. This concords with the apparent…
The concept of a particle is ambiguous in quantum field theory. It is generally agreed that particles depend not only on spacetime, but also on coordinates used to parametrise spacetime points. One of us has in contrast proposed a…
We investigate the effects of the gravitational field on the quantum dynamics of non-relativistic particles. We consider N non-relativistic particles, interacting with the linearized gravitational field. Using the Feynman - Vernon influence…
All global symmetries are expected to be explicitly broken by quantum gravitational effects, and yet may play an important role in Particle Physics and Cosmology. As such, any evidence for a well-preserved global symmetry would give insight…
Critical gravitational collapse offers a unique window into regimes of arbitrarily high curvature, culminating in a naked singularity arising from smooth initial data -- thus providing a dynamical counterexample to weak cosmic censorship.…
At its microscopic level, the universe follows the laws of quantum mechanics. Focusing on the quantum trajectories of particles as followed from the hydrodynamical formulation of quantum mechanics, we propose that under general…
In this letter we investigate the possibility of observing macroscopic entanglement, considering realistic factors such as decoherence, particle losses, and measurements of limited precision (coarse-grained collective measurements). This…
The Klein-Gordon equation is a useful test arena for quantum cosmological models described by the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. We use the decoherent histories approach to quantum theory to obtain the probability that a free relativistic…
A possible way out of the conundrum of quantum gravity is the proposal that general relativity (GR) is not a fundamental theory but emerges from an underlying microscopic description. Despite recent interest in the emergent gravity program…
We consider non minimal coupling between matters and gravity in modified theories of gravity. In contrary to the current common sense, we report that quantum mechanics can effectively emerge when the space-time geometry is sufficiently…
We demonstrate that the physics which resolves naturalness problems need not take the form of new particles and can sometimes manifest itself as higher dimensional operators. As a proof of principle, we present a simple model where the…
We review recent efforts to construct gravitational theories on discrete space-times, usually referred to as the ``consistent discretization'' approach. The resulting theories are free of constraints at the canonical level and therefore…
We present an exact quantum observable analog of the weak equivalence principle for a `relativistic' quantum particle. The quantum geodesic equations are obtained from Heisenberg equations of motion as an exact analog of a fully covariant…
A brief review is given of the present state of an approach to consistency between basic quantum mechanics and a unique macroscopic reality, with no assumption of branching in the state of the universe. The main new idea consists in the…
A "quantum-first" approach to gravity is described, where rather than quantizing general relativity, one seeks to formulate the physics of gravity within a quantum-mechanical framework with suitably general postulates. Important guides are…
We put forward a possible new interpretation and explanatory framework for quantum theory. The basic hypothesis underlying this new framework is that quantum particles are conceptual entities. More concretely, we propose that quantum…
Quantum systems are viewed as emergent systems from the fundamental degrees of freedom. The laws and rules of quantum mechanics are understood as an effective description, valid for the emergent systems and specially useful to handle…