Breaking quantum linearity: Constraints from human perception and cosmological implications

¹ Department of Physics, University of Trieste - Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Trieste, Italy, EU
² INFN, Trieste Section - Via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy, EU
³ Mathematisches Institut der L.M.U. - Theresienstr. 39, 80333 München, Germany, EU

^a bassi@ts.infn.it

Received: 30 July 2010
Accepted: 17 November 2010

Abstract

Resolving the tension between quantum superpositions and the uniqueness of the classical world is a major open problem. One possibility, which is extensively explored both theoretically and experimentally, is that quantum linearity breaks above a given scale. Theoretically, this possibility is predicted by collapse models. They provide quantitative information on where violations of the superposition principle become manifest. Here we show that the lower bound on the collapse parameter λ, coming from the analysis of the human visual process, is ∼7±2 orders of magnitude stronger than the original bound, in agreement with more recent analysis. This implies that the collapse becomes effective with systems containing ∼10⁴–10⁵ nucleons, and thus falls within the range of testability with present-day technology. We also compare the spectrum of the collapsing field with those of known cosmological fields, showing that a typical cosmological random field can yield an efficient wave function collapse.