Gravitationally induced inhibitions of dispersion according to the Schrödinger-Newton equation
Abstract
We reconsider the time-dependent Schrödinger-Newton equation as a model for the self-gravitational interaction of a quantum system. We numerically locate the onset of gravitationally induced inhibitions of dispersion of Gaussian wave packets and find them to occur at mass values more than six orders of magnitude higher than reported by Salzman and Carlip (Salzman and Carlip 2006, arXiv:gr-qc/0606120, Carlip 2008 Class. Quantum Grav. 25 107-44), namely at about 1010 u. This fits much better to simple analytical estimates but unfortunately also questions the experimental realizability of the proposed laboratory test of quantum gravity in the foreseeable future, not just because of large masses, but also because of the need to provide sufficiently long coherence times.
- Publication:
-
Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Pub Date:
- October 2011
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0264-9381/28/19/195026
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1105.1921
- Bibcode:
- 2011CQGra..28s5026G
- Keywords:
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- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- Mathematical Physics;
- Quantum Physics;
- 35Q40
- E-Print:
- 19 pages, 7 figures