Ruling out nonlinear modifications of quantum theory with contextuality

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that certain nonlinear modifications of quantum mechanics cannot be consistent with quantum contextuality, enabling experimental tests to rule out these models and shedding light on the measurement problem.

Contribution

It shows that well-known nonlinear quantum models map contextual states to non-contextual ones, allowing for experimental tests to disprove these modifications.

Findings

Nonlinear models can map contextual states to non-contextual states.

Experiments can be designed to test the presence of contextuality.

Results suggest nonlinear modifications may not be compatible with quantum contextuality.

Abstract

Nonlinear modifications of quantum theory are considered potential candidates for the theory of quantum gravity, with the intuitive argument that since Einstein field equations are nonlinear, quantum gravity should be nonlinear as well. Contextuality is a property of quantum systems that forbids the explanation of prepare-and-measure experiments in terms of classical hidden variable models with suitable properties. We show that some well-known nonlinear modifications of quantum mechanics, namely the Deutsch's map, the Weinberg's model, and the Schr\"odinger - Newton equation, map a contextual set of states to a non-contextual one. That is, the considered nonlinear modifications of quantum theory allow for the existence of classical hidden variable models for certain experimental setups. This enables us to design experiments that would rule out the considered nonlinear modifications of quantum theory by verifying that the system remains contextual, or, equivalently, our results highlight a mechanism how nonlinear modification of quantum theory may lead to weak wave function collapse and ultimately to the solution of the measurement problem.