Experimental bounds on collapse models from gravitational wave detectors
Publication date: 23 December 2016
Authors: M. Carlesso, A. Bassi, P. Falferi, and A. Vinante
Journal: Physical Review D
Volume: 94
Issue: 12
Page: 124036
Year: 2016
Copyright: American Physical Society
Wave function collapse models postulate a fundamental breakdown of the quantum superposition principle at the macroscale. Therefore, experimental tests of collapse models are also fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. Here, we compute the upper bounds on the collapse parameters, which can be inferred by the gravitational wave detectors LIGO, LISA Pathfinder, and AURIGA. We consider the most widely used collapse model, the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model. We show that these experiments exclude a huge portion of the CSL parameter space, the strongest bound being set by the recently launched space mission LISA Pathfinder. We also rule out a proposal for quantum-gravity-induced decoherence.
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