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Testing the limits of quantum mechanical superpositions

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 271–277 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Quantum physics has intrigued scientists and philosophers alike, because it challenges our notions of reality and locality — concepts that we have grown to rely on in our macroscopic world. It is an intriguing open question whether the linearity of quantum mechanics extends into the macroscopic domain. Scientific progress over the past decades inspires hope that this debate may be settled by table-top experiments.

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Figure 1: Superposition experiments.
Figure 2: Accounting for environmental decoherence.
Figure 3: Interference schemes for large masses.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Nimmrichter for helpful discussions, and we acknowledge support by the European Commission within NANOQUESTFIT (No. 304886). M.A. is supported by the Austrian FWF (Wittgenstein Z149-N16) and by the ERC (AdvG 320694 Probiotiqus), K.H. by the DFG (HO 2318/4-1 and SFB/TR12). We thank the WE Heraeus Foundation for supporting the physics school ‘Exploring the Limits of the Quantum Superposition Principle’.

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  1. Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, QuNaBioS, VCQ, Boltzmanngasse 5 Vienna 1090, Austria,

    Markus Arndt

  2. Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstraße 1 Duisburg 47048, Germany,

    Klaus Hornberger

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Correspondence to Markus Arndt or Klaus Hornberger.

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Arndt, M., Hornberger, K. Testing the limits of quantum mechanical superpositions. Nature Phys 10, 271–277 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2863

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