Quantum Measurement, Gravity, and the Timescale of Reality
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper, Quantum Gravity, Collapse, and the Ontology of Measurement: A Tabletop Roadmap to Ontological Falsification, proposes a concrete experimental strategy to test the foundations of quantum mechanics. At stake is whether wavefunction collapse is driven by gravity (Diósi–Penrose), by intrinsic stochastic processes (GRW/CSL), or by ordinary environmental decoherence under unitary quantum theory. The approach centers on optically levitated nanospheres in mesoscopic superpositions, with coherence time τ measured as a function of mass and separation. Distinct log–log scaling laws (τ ∝ m⁻², τ ∝ m⁻¹, τ ∝ m⁻²/³) and the presence or absence of revivals provide sharp discriminants among models. Unlike previous fragmented proposals, this roadmap unifies collapse and decoherence theories into a single operational framework, emphasizing falsifiability, experimental feasibility, and parameter sensitivity. It is not an abstract philosophical essay but a call to laboratory action: by measuring τ under controlled conditions, we can constrain or refute canonical collapse models and probe gravity’s role in quantum mechanics. The paper is written for experimentalists, theorists, and philosophers alike. While the ultimate resolution of “quantum ontology” may extend beyond any single test, the methods here represent a decisive step in grounding interpretive debates in empirical data.
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7083289769
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