Testing spontaneous wave-function collapse models on classical mechanical oscillators

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Feb 6;114(5):050403. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.050403. Epub 2015 Feb 4.

Abstract

We show that the heating effect of spontaneous wave-function collapse models implies an experimentally significant increment ΔT(sp) of equilibrium temperature in a mechanical oscillator. The obtained new form ΔT(sp) is linear in the oscillator's relaxation time τ and independent of the mass. The oscillator can be in a classical thermal state, also the effect ΔT(sp) is classical for a wide range of frequencies and quality factors. We note that the test of ΔT(sp) does not necessitate quantum state monitoring just tomography. In both the gravity-related and the continuous spontaneous localization models the strong-effect edge of their parameter range can be challenged in existing experiments on classical oscillators. For the continuous spontaneous localization theory, the conjectured highest collapse rate parameter values become immediately constrained by evidences from current experiments on extreme slow-ring-down oscillators.