Crucial tests of macrorealist and semiclassical gravity models with freely falling mesoscopic nanospheres

Samuel Colin, Thomas Durt, and Ralph Willox
Phys. Rev. A 93, 062102 – Published 2 June 2016

Abstract

Recently, several proposals have been made to test the quantum superposition principle in the mesoscopic regime. Most of these tests consist of a careful measurement of the loss of interference due to decoherence. Here we consider, instead, the spread in position of a freely falling nanosphere. We study in depth the dependence of this spread on self-gravity in the presence of decoherence (exotic and nonexotic). We show that the influence of self-gravity is robust in the presence of weak decoherence, and quantify this robustness by introducing a parameter, the critical decoherence, aimed at estimating the critical value above which self-gravity is overwhelmed by decoherence. We also emphasize the crucial role played by the spread of the initial wave packet for the sensitivity of free-fall experiments to decoherence.

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  • Received 25 February 2014
  • Revised 23 December 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.062102

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

General Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Samuel Colin1,*, Thomas Durt2,†, and Ralph Willox3,‡

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, 120-A Kinard Laboratory, Clemson, South Carolina 29631-0978, USA
  • 2Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, Institut Fresnel (UMR 7249), 13013 Marseille, France
  • 3Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences, the University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, 153-8914 Tokyo, Japan

  • *Present address: Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, Urca, CEP 22290-180, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil; scolin@cbpf.br
  • thomas.durt@centrale-marseille.fr
  • willox@ms.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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Issue

Vol. 93, Iss. 6 — June 2016

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