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Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

sciencemag.org

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Re: Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

#11

Post by CodesInChaos »

zackees wrote: post #7

Tesla was right about Einstein. He was a fuzzy hair crackpot and his mathematical model for the Universe is riddled with contradictions yet the media continually pushes this guy. Why? It's funny how science is portrayed as careful and thoughtful but then the main stream media pushes theories like string theory and super symmetry, which fall to pieces as soon as the large particle accelerator machines came online. Whe…

Which model do you prefer? Both special and general relativity are clearly much better models of reality that Newtonian physics, even if they break down under extreme conditions.

You're right that string theory and super symmetry are dubious, but it's not like they're anywhere close to being accepted.

Re: Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

#13

Post by eitland »

zackees wrote: post #7

Tesla was right about Einstein. He was a fuzzy hair crackpot and his mathematical model for the Universe is riddled with contradictions yet the media continually pushes this guy. Why? It's funny how science is portrayed as careful and thoughtful but then the main stream media pushes theories like string theory and super symmetry, which fall to pieces as soon as the large particle accelerator machines came online. Whe…

> Tesla was right about Einstein. He was a fuzzy hair crackpot and his mathematical model for the Universe is riddled with contradictions yet the media continually pushes this guy. Why?

Why?

Because it works for a lot of stuff. Example:

We wouldn't have working GPS without.

But let me admit that if you have a better model I'm all for that.

Re: Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

#14

Post by alpineidyll3 »

andi999 wrote: post #8
akvadrako wrote: post #4

Gravity was never a leading explanation for collapse; it was always a fringe idea. Gravity is local and apparent collapse is non-local; it doesn’t even pass the smell test.

Yes, but at least a in principle testable fringe theory. (And by penrose!)

For the past several decades Penrose has been a fountain of nothing but frivolous fringe theories. Physicists are like investments: past performance is not indicative of future returns ;P

Re: Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

#15

Post by alpineidyll3 »

akvadrako wrote: post #4

Gravity was never a leading explanation for collapse; it was always a fringe idea. Gravity is local and apparent collapse is non-local; it doesn’t even pass the smell test.

Collapse is only mysterious to people who never learned thermofield theory, or non-equilibrium quantum dynamics. Unfortunately this is also a sizable fraction of all physicists. Thus we have articles like this :/

Basically all the work in getting large scale quantum computers to work lies in these fields. They will continue to grow.

Re: Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

#17

Post by andi999 »

alpineidyll3 wrote: post #14
andi999 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but at least a in principle testable fringe theory. (And by penrose!)

For the past several decades Penrose has been a fountain of nothing but frivolous fringe theories. Physicists are like investments: past performance is not indicative of future returns ;P

As long as they are testable, it is good enough.

Re: Gravity is unlikely to be the cause of quantum collapse, experiment suggests

#19

Post by gus_massa »

akvadrako wrote: post #4

Gravity was never a leading explanation for collapse; it was always a fringe idea. Gravity is local and apparent collapse is non-local; it doesn’t even pass the smell test.

I agree. There are a (very) few experiments that show the effect of gravity in a system with strong quantum effects.

Fox example you can split a ray of neutrons, direct each beam through a different path with different height and then make them collide and see the interference pattern. The idea is that the split creates a superposition and each half has a different gravity potential, changing the orientation of the experiment produce different interference patterns. (The details are in the book of Sakurai "Modern Quantum Mechanics" pp127-129, with data from an experiment of Colella, Overhauser, Werner (1975).)

I don't understand why the old experiment was not enough to falsify this theory.

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