Superposing spacetimes: lessons from analogue gravity
Year: 2021
Type: preprint
Abstract: We analyze Penrose's ideas concerning the role of gravity in the quantum-mechanical state reduction from the perspective of analogue-gravity models. We first review a line of work which argues that it is not enough to find a satisfactory quantization scheme for gravity in the description of a matter-gravity system. Instead of that; the standard rules of quantum mechanics as they are actually applied to matter systems need to be modified when the gravitational interaction is relevant. Among these ideas we focus on Penrose's argument for the absence of macroscopic quantum superpositions. He argues that such phenomenon has its roots in the idiosyncratic aspects of gravity, which become relevant just when the system is macroscopic and hence able to generate a sufficiently strong gravitational field, and not in the environmental decoherence. We then present an analogue model consisting of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double well potential, where it is possible to build states that would correspond to putative superpositions of spacetimes. Such configurations are unstable and the source of instability from a microscopic point of view can be related to the abscence of a well-defined causal structure in the effective geometric description. We also discuss some additional lessons that can be taken from these instabilities.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3157700444