Testing spontaneous wave-function collapse models on classical mechanical oscillators

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to test spontaneous wave-function collapse models by measuring temperature increases in classical mechanical oscillators, providing a practical way to constrain these models' parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a classical temperature-based test for collapse models that does not require quantum state monitoring, challenging existing parameter ranges with current experiments.

Findings

Temperature increase ΔT is linear in relaxation time τ and independent of mass.

Existing classical oscillator experiments can test and constrain collapse model parameters.

Collapse models' parameter space can be limited using classical mechanical oscillators.

Abstract

We show that the heating effect of spontaneous wave-function collapse models implies an experimentally significant increment $\Delta T$ of equilibrium temperature in a mechanical oscillator. The obtained form $\Delta T$ is linear in the oscillator's relaxation time $\tau$ and independent of the mass. The oscillator can be in a classical thermal state, the effect $\Delta T$ is classical for a wide range of frequencies and quality factors. We note that the test of $\Delta T$ does not necessitate quantum state monitoring but tomography. In both gravity-related (DP) and continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) models the strong-effect edge of their parameter range can be challenged in existing experiments on classical oscillators. For the CSL theory, the conjectured highest collapse rate parameter values become immediately constrained by evidences from current experiments on extreme slow-ring-down oscillators.