Macroscopic Quantum Mechanics in a Classical Spacetime
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.
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