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Gravity

Wanna be quantum

Nature Physics volume 11, pages 626–627 (2015)Cite this article

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Superpositions of massive objects would be hard to spot on Earth even in well-isolated environments because of the decoherence induced by gravitational time dilation.

Who wouldn't like to experience a quantum life? We could do many things in parallel: working, playing, doing sports, having a meal and sleeping. All at the same time — at least as long as no one is watching us. We could instantly teleport ourselves far away when annoyed with a situation. Many childhood dreams would come true. However, it seems we are bound to be classical; not a boring life, but less exciting than a quantum one. A much-debated question among physicists is: why so? In the end, we are made of atoms, which are quantum. But their most amazing quantum properties do not survive when they combine to form macroscopic objects. Why so?

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Figure 1: Decoherence triggered by the Earth's gravitational field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Angelo Bassi is in the Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste I-34151, Italy,

    Angelo Bassi

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  1. Angelo Bassi
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Correspondence to Angelo Bassi.

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Bassi, A. Wanna be quantum. Nature Phys 11, 626–627 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3390

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