Elements of Environmental Decoherence

Lajos Diósi

S. V. Mousavi

Rodolfo Gambini, Jorge A. Pullin

The Montevideo interpretation of quantum mechanics, which consists of supplementing environmental decoherence with fundamental limitations in measurement stemming from gravity, has been described in several publications. However, some of them appeared before the full picture provided by the interpretation was developed. As such, it can be difficult to get a good understanding via the published literature. Here, we summarize it in a self-contained brief presentation including all its principal elements.

Erich Joos

Philip C. E. Stamp

We review the difference between standard environmental decoherence and 'intrinsic decoherence', which is taken to be an ineluctable process of Nature. Environmental decoherence is typically modelled by spin bath or oscillator modes-we review some of the unanswered questions not captured by these models, and also the application of them to experiments. Finally, a sketch is given of a new theoretical approach to intrinsic decoherence, and this scheme is applied to the discussion of gravitational decoherence.

Ridha Horchani

The transition from the quantum to the classical realm remains one of the most profound open questions in physics. While quantum theory predicts the existence of macroscopic superpositions, their apparent absence in the everyday world is attributed either to environmental decoherence or to an intrinsic mechanism for wave-function collapse. This work presents a quantitative and experimentally grounded framework for distinguishing these possibilities. We propose a levitated optomechanical platform capable of generating controllable Schrodinger-cat states in the center of mass motion of a dielectric nanosphere. A comprehensive master equation incorporates gas collisions, black-body radiation, and photon-recoil noise, establishing a calibrated environmental baseline. The Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model is embedded within the same framework, predicting a characteristic saturation of the decoherence rate with superposition size and a quadratic scaling with mass. A Bayesian inference protocol is outlined to discriminate collapse induced excess decoherence from environmental noise. Together these elements provide a concrete experimental blueprint for a decisive test of quantum linearity, either revealing new physics beyond standard quantum mechanics or setting the most stringent bounds to date on objective-collapse parameters.