aiqbench analysis
This study derives analytic expressions for gravitationally induced quantum decoherence in macroscopic objects, demonstrating that while the effect accumulates logarithmically over long distances, it remains subdominant to conventional collisional decoherence under realistic conditions. The work provides a rigorous framework using closed-time-path influence functionals to model the interaction between linearized gravity and environmental scalar fields. For a tech audience, the key takeaway is that gravitational decoherence is currently negligible compared to standard noise sources, setting a theoretical baseline for future high-precision quantum experiments.
Gravitationally Induced Quantum Decoherence of Macroscopic Objects
arXiv:2606.04099v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: We formulate the gravitationally induced quantum decoherence of a massive object prepared in a spatial superposition. Starting from linearized gravity coupled to a massive system particle and an environmental scalar field, we derive a closed-time-path influence functional governing the reduced system dynamics. In the nonrelativistic and quasi-static regime, the decoherence exponent can be written as a bilinear functional of the difference of the system stress-energy tensors and an effective noise kernel obtained by dressing the environmental stress-energy tensor correlator with graviton propagators. We then apply this framework to the Newtonian long-range gravitational interaction and evaluate the resulting decoherence function for a dilute nonrelativistic gas modeled by finite wave packets and coarse-grained in time and space. By performing controlled approximations, we obtain analytic expressions for the cumulative decoherence function and show that the dominant contribution is accumulated logarithmically over a broad range of distances, while remaining subdominant to conventional collisional decoherence under realistic conditions.
Abstract:We formulate the gravitationally induced quantum decoherence of a massive object prepared in a spatial superposition. Starting from linearized gravity coupled to a massive system particle and an environmental scalar field, we derive a closed-time-path influence functional governing the reduced system dynamics. In the nonrelativistic and quasi-static regime, the decoherence exponent can be written as a bilinear functional of the difference of the system stress-energy tensors and an effective noise kernel obtained by dressing the environmental stress-energy tensor correlator with graviton propagators. We then apply this framework to the Newtonian long-range gravitational interaction and evaluate the resulting decoherence function for a dilute nonrelativistic gas modeled by finite wave packets and coarse-grained in time and space. By performing controlled approximations, we obtain analytic expressions for the cumulative decoherence function and show that the dominant contribution is accumulated logarithmically over a broad range of distances, while remaining subdominant to conventional collisional decoherence under realistic conditions.
arXiv:2606.04099 [gr-qc]
(or arXiv:2606.04099v1 [gr-qc] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.04099 arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
Full text under the publisher's open licence · 168 words
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