What kills Schrödinger's cat? Underground experiment rules out gravity model for quantum decoherence
Somewhere between the microscopic realm of elementary particles and the macroscopic world of human beings, something strange happens: The rules of quantum physics, which work so exquisitely for tiny atoms, seem to lose their grip as objects grow larger. Pondering where and how this shift from small-scale quantum fuzziness to everyday sharp certainty happens gives rise to thought-experiment…
Scientists have conducted an underground experiment that rules out a specific theory linking gravity to the process of quantum decoherence, which is the phenomenon that explains how quantum behavior fades into classical reality as objects grow larger. The experiment, conducted at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, aimed to test a model proposed in the 1960s by Hungarian physicist Frigyes Károlyházy.
This model suggested that tiny fluctuations in spacetime, caused by gravity, could gradually erode quantum superpositions and prevent macroscopic objects from existing in quantum combinations. While the experiment found no evidence of these predicted fluctuations, it does not completely rule out the possibility that gravity plays a role in quantum decoherence.
However, the null result provides valuable information about the specific parameters of the Károlyházy model, narrowing down the search for a possible gravitational link to quantum phenomena. This finding is significant because it brings physicists one step closer to understanding the fundamental mystery of how quantum physics transitions to the classical world we experience every day.
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