Optomechanical sensing of spontaneous wave-function collapse

TL;DR

This paper investigates how noise sources affect the ability of optomechanical systems to detect hypothetical wave-function collapse, revealing that larger systems are not necessarily more sensitive to such effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates that in the presence of typical noise, the sensitivity of optomechanical systems to collapse models does not increase with mass, challenging previous assumptions.

Findings

Noise sources can mask collapse-induced decoherence

Conditions to differentiate noise from collapse effects are identified

Sensitivity does not scale with mass in realistic scenarios

Abstract

Quantum experiments with nanomechanical oscillators are regarded as a testbed for hypothetical modifications of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation, which predict a breakdown of the superposition principle and induce classical behavior at the macro-scale. It is generally believed that the sensitivity to these unconventional effects grows with the mass of the mechanical quantum system. Here we show that the opposite is the case for optomechanical systems in the presence of generic noise sources, such as thermal and measurement noise. We determine conditions for distinguishing these decoherence processes from possible collapse-induced decoherence in continuous optomechanical force measurements.