Title:	Gravity and decoherence: the double slit experiment revisited.
Authors:	Samuel, J.
Issue Date:	Feb-2018
Publisher:	IOP Publishing Ltd.
Citation:	Classical and Quantum Gravity, 2018, Vol.35, p045004
Abstract:	The double slit experiment is iconic and widely used in classrooms to demonstrate the fundamental mystery of quantum physics. The puzzling feature is that the probability of an electron arriving at the detector when both slits are open is not the sum of the probabilities when the slits are open separately. The superposition principle of quantum mechanics tells us to add amplitudes rather than probabilities and this results in interference. This experiment defies our classical intuition that the probabilities of exclusive events add. In understanding the emergence of the classical world from the quantum one, there have been suggestions by Feynman, Diosi and Penrose that gravity is responsible for suppressing interference. This idea has been pursued in many different forms ever since, predominantly within Newtonian approaches to gravity. In this paper, we propose and theoretically analyse two 'gedanken' or thought experiments which lend strong support to the idea that gravity is responsible for decoherence. The first makes the point that thermal radiation can suppress interference. The second shows that in an accelerating frame, Unruh radiation does the same. Invoking the Einstein equivalence principle to relate acceleration to gravity, we support the view that gravity is responsible for decoherence.
Description:	Restricted Access. An open-access version is available at arXiv.org (one of the alternative locations)
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/6892
ISSN:	0264-9381 1361-6382 (E)
Alternative Location:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1706.04401 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/aaa313 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?arXiv:1706.04401
Copyright:	2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (TP)

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