Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We argue that the experimental measurement of the lifetime and decay law of metastable helium is a promising way to find a deviation from quantum mechanics. We analyze the decay of the metastable state for a quartic deformation of quantum mechanics. We find that the absolute change of the mean lifetime can be significant even if the modification is small. We show that, in the Wigner--Weisskopf approximation, the deviation from the exponential law in the modified theory can occur on time scales comparable with the lifetime.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Nicolas, Jerome, Schwarz, Albert
Institution: University of California, Davis
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223039375