Testing the foundations of quantum physics in space Interferometric and non-interferometric tests with Large Particles

TL;DR

This paper explores how space-based quantum experiments with large nanoparticles can test the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics and potentially reveal new physics, leveraging advances in quantum and space technologies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of space-based interferometric and non-interferometric tests with large particles, highlighting their potential to probe quantum foundations and the quantum-to-classical transition.

Findings

Space environment enables testing quantum superpositions of large nanoparticles.

Potential for unprecedented precision in testing quantum mechanics.

Challenges and opportunities for future space-based quantum experiments.

Abstract

Quantum technologies are opening novel avenues for applied and fundamental science at an impressive pace. In this perspective article, we focus on the promises coming from the combination of quantum technologies and space science to test the very foundations of quantum physics and, possibly, new physics. In particular, we survey the field of mesoscopic superpositions of nanoparticles and the potential of interferometric and non-interferometric experiments in space for the investigation of the superposition principle of quantum mechanics and the quantum-to-classical transition. We delve into the possibilities offered by the state-of-the-art of nanoparticle physics projected in the space environment and discuss the numerous challenges, and the corresponding potential advancements, that the space environment presents. In doing this, we also offer an ab-initio estimate of the potential of space-based interferometry with some of the largest systems ever considered and show that there is room for tests of quantum mechanics at an unprecedented level of detail.