Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: We study lower and upper bounds on the parameters for stochastic state vector reduction, focusing on the mass-proportional continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model. We show that the assumption that the state vector is reduced whan a latent image is formed, in photography or etched track detection, requires a CSL rate parameter $λ$ that is larger than conventionally assumed by a factor of roughly $2 \times 10^{9\pm 2}$, for a correlation length $r_C$ of $10^{-5}{\rm cm}$. We reanalyze existing upper bounds on the reduction rate and conclude that all are compatible with such an increase in $λ$. The best bounds that we have obtained come from a consideration of heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM), which shows that $λ$ can be at most $\sim 10^{8\pm 1}$ times as large as the standard CSL value, again for $r_C=10^{-5} {\rm cm}$. (For both the lower and upper bounds, quoted errors are not purely statistical errors, but rather are estimates reflecting modeling uncertainties.) We discuss modifications in our analysis corresponding to a larger value of $r_C$. With a substantially enlarged rate parameter, CSL effects may be within range of experimental detection (or refutation) with current technologies. ADDED NOTE: A careful calculation of radiation from atomic systems in the CSL model (Adler and Ramazanoglu, arXiv:0707.3134) has reinstated the bound obtained by Fu as the best upper bound on lambda, with significant implications for CSL model phenomenology.
Author: Stephen L Adler
Institution: Institute for Advanced Study
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: PROBLEMS IN PARTICLE THEORY
OpenAlex ID: W2034927926