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arXiv:2607.08819

The Apparatus Strikes Back: Momentum Conservation and the Cost of Spatial Superpositions

Lucas C. Céleri, Diogo O. Soares-Pinto, Daniel A. Turolla Vanzella

quant-phgr-qcSubmitted Jul 9, 2026• Announced Jul 13, 2026• 1 citation• Revised Jul 13, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jul 9, 2026v2 · Jul 13, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Preparing massive particles in coherent spatial superpositions is a central objective of modern quantum science, motivated by applications ranging from fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and gravity to quantum-enhanced sensing. The experimental difficulty of realizing such superpositions is usually attributed to environmental decoherence mechanisms whose impact depends on the details of the experimental implementation. Here we identify a universal constraint arising from momentum conservation and the quantum nature of the preparation apparatus. Any protocol that places a particle of mass $m$ in a spatial superposition with separation $d$ necessarily entangles the particle with the center-of-mass degree of freedom of the apparatus responsible for the splitting. The resulting recoil displacement, fixed by conservation of the mass dipole moment, reduces the coherence of the particle when the apparatus is not included as part of the quantum system. For an apparatus of mass $M$, preserving coherence requires the recoil displacement to remain smaller than the coherence length of the apparatus center-of-mass state, leading to a quantitative bound expressible as a constraint on its temperature and on how rigidly the apparatus is anchored to the laboratory frame. We analyze the implications of this bound for current matter-wave interferometry experiments, proposals for gravitationally mediated entanglement, and tests of quantum mechanics near the Planck scale. Our main result, which may seem counterintuitive, is that the recoil of even heavy macroscopic apparatuses can pose a surprisingly strong constraint on the coherence of spatial superpositions of particles with masses well below the Planck mass. Finally, we discuss why the resulting limitation should be regarded as a conservative estimate and under which conditions it can be interpreted as an instance of false decoherence.

Comments
9 pages, 2 figures; v.2: unimportant numerical error in Fig. 2 corrected

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Preparing massive particles in coherent spatial superpositions is a central objective of modern quantum science, motivated by applications ranging from fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and gravity to quantum-enhanced sensing. The experimental difficulty of realizing such superpositions is usually attributed to environmental decoherence mechanisms whose impact depends on the details of the experimental implementation. Here we identify a universal constraint arising from momentum conservation and the quantum nature of the preparation apparatus. Any protocol that places a particle of mass mmm in a spatial superposition with separation ddd necessarily entangles the particle with the center-of-mass degree of freedom of the apparatus responsible for the splitting. The resulting recoil displacement, fixed by conservation of the mass dipole moment, reduces the coherence of the particle when the apparatus is not included as part of the quantum system. For an apparatus of mass MMM, preserving coherence requires the recoil displacement to remain smaller than the coherence length of the apparatus center-of-mass state, leading to a quantitative bound expressible as a constraint on its temperature and on how rigidly the apparatus is anchored to the laboratory frame. We analyze the implications of this bound for current matter-wave interferometry experiments, proposals for gravitationally mediated entanglement, and tests of quantum mechanics near the Planck scale. Our main result, which may seem counterintuitive, is that the recoil of even heavy macroscopic apparatuses can pose a surprisingly strong constraint on the coherence of spatial superpositions of particles with masses well below the Planck mass. Finally, we discuss why the resulting limitation should be regarded as a conservative estimate and under which conditions it can be interpreted as an instance of false decoherence.
Abstract One of the outstanding questions in modern physics is how to test whether gravity is classical or quantum in a laboratory. Recently there has been a proposal to test the quantum nature of gravity by creating quantum superpositions of two nearby neutral masses, close enough that the quantum nature of gravity can entangle the two quantum systems, but still sufficiently far away that all other known Standard Model interactions remain negligible. However, preparing superposition states of a neutral mass (the light system) requires the vicinity of laboratory apparatus (the heavy system). We will suppose that such a heavy system can be modelled as another quantum system; since gravity is universal, the lighter system can get entangled with the heavier system, providing an inherent source of gravitational decoherence. In this paper, we will consider a toy model composed of two light and two heavy quantum oscillators prepared in the motional ground state, forming pairs of probe-detector systems, and study under what conditions the entanglement between two light systems evades the decoherence induced by the heavy systems. We conclude by estimating the decoherence in the proposed experiment for testing the quantum nature of gravity.
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Why Quantum–Gravity Experiments Signal Ordering Failure, Not Ontological Crisis Recent experimental proposals at the quantum–gravity interface investigate the behavior of massive systems placed in spatial superposition, raising questions about the stability and meaning of gravitational sourcing under quantum delocalization. These efforts—most notably those involving Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) and mesoscopic mass superpositions—are often framed as challenges to physical realism or as motivations for modifying quantum mechanics itself. In this paper, we argue that such experiments instead expose a regime boundary arising from incorrect theoretical ordering. When mass and force are treated as fundamental, superposition produces internal inconsistency. When structure is treated as primary and force as a restorative, regime-limited description, the apparent paradox resolves. We reinterpret contemporary quantum-gravity experiments as probes of structural admissibility rather than tests of metaphysical primacy, situating them as empirical support for a structure-first framework.
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