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Original Articles

The Schrödinger–Newton equation as a possible generator of quantum state reduction

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Pages 1659-1671 | Received 31 Mar 2008, Accepted 05 Jun 2008, Published online: 28 Jul 2008
 

Abstract

It has been suggested by Diósi and Penrose that the occurrence of quantum state reduction in macroscopic objects is related to a manifestation of gravitational effects in quantum mechanics. Although within Penrose's framework the dynamics of the quantum state reduction is not prescribed, it was suggested that the so-called Schrödinger–Newton equation can be used to at least identify the resulting classical end states. Here we analyse the extent to which the Schrödinger–Newton equation can be used as a model to generate a full, time-dependent description of the quantum state reduction process. We find that when supplied with an imaginary gravitational potential, the Schrödinger–Newton equation offers a rationalization for some of the hitherto unexplained characteristics of quantum state reduction. The description remains incomplete however, because it is unclear how to fully recover Born's rule.

Acknowledgements

We thank Jan Zaanen for numerous discussions and gratefully acknowledge support from the Dutch Science Foundation FOM.

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