Minimum measurement time: lower bound on the frequency cutoff for collapse models

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spectral properties of noise in collapse models, establishing a lower bound on the frequency cutoff by analyzing minimal measurement times and fluctuation behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel lower bound on the noise frequency cutoff in collapse models based on measurement time constraints and fluctuation averaging.

Findings

Bound on noise frequency from below based on measurement time

Collapse completion within minimal measurement durations

Fluctuation averaging constrains spectral properties

Abstract

The CSL model predicts a progressive breakdown of the quantum superposition principle, with a noise randomly driving the state of the system towards a localized one, thus accounting for the emergence of a classical world within a quantum framework. In the original model the noise is supposed to be white, but since white noises do not exist in nature, it becomes relevant to identify some of its spectral properties. Experimental data set an upper bound on its frequencies, while in this paper we bound it from below. We do so in two ways: by considering a 'minimal' measurement setup, requiring that the collapse is completed within the measurement time; and in a measurement modeling-independent way, by requiring that the fluctuations average to zero before the measurement time.