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Testing Dissipative Collapse Models with a Levitated Micromagnet

Andrea Vinante, Giulio Gasbarri, Chris Timberlake, Marko Toroš, Hendrik Ulbricht

Published Oct 8, 2020• 13 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We present experimental tests of dissipative extensions of spontaneous wave function collapse models based on a levitated micromagnet with ultralow dissipation. The spherical micromagnet, with radius R = 27 µm, is levitated by Meissner effect in a lead trap at 4.2 K and its motion is detected by a SQUID. We perform accurate ringdown measurements on the vertical translational mode with frequency 57 Hz, and infer the residual damping at vanishing pressure γ/2π < 9 µHz. From this upper limit we derive improved bounds on the dissipative versions of the CSL (continuous spontaneous localization) and the DP (Di´osi-Penrose) models. In particular, dissipative models give rise to an intrinsic damping of an isolated system with the effect parameterized by a temperature constant – the dissipative CSL model with temperatures below 1 nK is ruled out, while the dissipative DP model is excluded for temperatures below 10−13 K. Furthermore, we present the first bounds on dissipative effects in a more recent model, which relates the wave function collapse to fluctuations of a generalized complex-valued spacetime metric.

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We present experimental tests of dissipative extensions of spontaneous wave function collapse models based on a levitated micromagnet with ultralow dissipation. The spherical micromagnet, with radius R = 27 µm, is levitated by Meissner effect in a lead trap at 4.2 K and its motion is detected by a SQUID. We perform accurate ringdown measurements on the vertical translational mode with frequency 57 Hz, and infer the residual damping at vanishing pressure γ/2π < 9 µHz. From this upper limit we derive improved bounds on the dissipative versions of the CSL (continuous spontaneous localization) and the DP (Di´osi-Penrose) models. In particular, dissipative models give rise to an intrinsic damping of an isolated system with the effect parameterized by a temperature constant – the dissipative CSL model with temperatures below 1 nK is ruled out, while the dissipative DP model is excluded for temperatures below 10−13 K. Furthermore, we present the first bounds on dissipative effects in a more recent model, which relates the wave function collapse to fluctuations of a generalized complex-valued spacetime metric.
Abstract Collapse models constitute an alternative to quantum mechanics that solve the well-know quantum measurement problem. In this framework, a novel approach to include dissipation in collapse models has been recently proposed, and awaits experimental scrutiny. Our work establishes experimental bounds on the so-constructed linear-friction dissipative Diósi-Penrose (dDP) and Continuous Spontaneous localisation (dCSL) models by exploiting experiments in the field of levitated optomechanics. Our results in the dDP case exclude collapse temperatures below 10−13 K and 6 × 10 − 12 K respectively for values of the localisation length smaller than 10−6 m and 10−8 m. In the dCSL case the entire parameter space is excluded for values of the temperature lower than 6 × 10 − 9 K.
The possibility that the collapse of the wave function in quantum mechanics is real and ultimately connected to (classical) gravity has been debated for decades with main contributions by Diósi and Penrose (DP). In particular, Diósi proposed a noise-based dynamical reduction model, which captures the same order of magnitudes for the collapse time suggested by Penrose based on heuristic arguments. This is known in the literature as the DP model (Diósi–Penrose). A peculiarity of the DP model is the prediction of spontaneous heating of matter, which can be tested without the need for massive quantum superpositions. Notably, a very similar effect is predicted by recent theoretical approaches to gravity as a classical-only information channel. Here, we reconsider the current constraints on the DP model from spontaneous heating by analyzing experimental situations not properly considered before. We argue that the parameter-free version of the DP model is close to be ruled out by standard heat leak measurements at ultralow temperatures with a conclusive exclusion likely within reach with existing technology. This result would strengthen a recent claim of exclusion inferred by spontaneous x-ray emission experiments, which relies on the somewhat stronger assumption that the DP noise field is white up to x-ray frequencies.
The article reviews our recent experimental results on the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model and on the gravity related collapse model developed by Diósi and Penrose (DP). These models of dynamical reduction of the wave function consist in non-linear and stochastic modifications of the Schröedinger equation, which lead to a progressive breakdown of the superposition principle, as the size of the system increases. We performed a high sensitivity survey of the spontaneous radiation phenomenon, predicted by the collapse models, in a dedicated experiment operated in the extremely low background of the Gran Sasso underground National Laboratory of INFN in Italy. Our studies set the strongest bounds on the CSL parameters, in a broad region of the parameters space, and rule out the DP in its present formulation.
Abstract The article reviews our recent experimental results on the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model and on the gravity related collapse model developed by Diósi and Penrose (DP). These models of dynamical reduction of the wave function consist in non-linear and stochastic modifications of the Schröedinger equation, which lead to a progressive breakdown of the superposition principle, as the size of the system increases. We performed a high sensitivity survey of the spontaneous radiation phenomenon, predicted by the collapse models, at the Gran Sasso underground National Laboratory of INFN in Italy. Our studies set the strongest bounds on the CSL parameters, in a broad region of the parameters space, and rule out the DP in its present formulation.