Journal
REVIEWS OF MODERN PHYSICS
Volume 85, Issue 2, Pages 471-527Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.85.471
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Funding
- John Templeton Foundation
- University of Trieste
- MIUR
- INFN
- COST [MP1006]
- Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (Mumbai)
- South-English Physics network (SEPNet)
- Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi)
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Quantum mechanics is an extremely successful theory that agrees with every experimental test. However, the principle of linear superposition, a central tenet of the theory, apparently contradicts a commonplace observation: macroscopic objects are never found in a linear superposition of position states. Moreover, the theory does not explain why during a quantum measurement, deterministic evolution is replaced by probabilistic evolution, whose random outcomes obey the Born probability rule. In this article a review is given of an experimentally falsifiable phenomenological proposal, known as continuous spontaneous collapse: a stochastic nonlinear modification of the Schrodinger equation, which resolves these problems, while giving the same experimental results as quantum theory in the microscopic regime. Two underlying theories for this phenomenology are reviewed: trace dynamics and gravity-induced collapse. As the macroscopic scale is approached, predictions of this proposal begin to differ appreciably from those of quantum theory and are being confronted by ongoing laboratory experiments that include molecular interferometry and optomechanics. These experiments, which test the validity of linear superposition for large systems, are reviewed here, and their technical challenges, current results, and future prospects summarized. It is likely that over the next two decades or so, these experiments can verify or rule out the proposed stochastic modification of quantum theory. DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.85.471
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