Astrophysical and Cosmological Tests of Quantum Theory

We discuss several proposals for astrophysical and cosmological tests of quantum theory. The tests are motivated by deterministic hidden-variables theories, and in particular by the view that quantum physics is merely an effective theory of an equilibrium state. The proposed tests involve searching for nonequilibrium violations of quantum theory in: primordial inflaton fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background, relic cosmological particles, Hawking radiation, photons with entangled partners inside black holes, neutrino oscillations, and particles from very distant sources.Comment: 25 pages. Amendment to section 7. Contribution to: "The Quantum Universe", special issue of Journal of Physics A, dedicated to Prof. G.-C. Ghirardi on the occasion of his seventieth birthda

Intrinsic CPT violation and decoherence for entangled neutral mesons

We present a combined treatment of quantum-gravity-induced effects and intrinsic CPT violation in entangled neutral-Kaon states. Our analysis takes into consideration two types of effects: first, those associated with the loss of particle-antiparticle identity, as a result of the ill-defined nature of the CPT operator, and second, effects due to the non-unitary evolution of the Kaons in the space-time foam. By studying a variety of phi-factory observables, involving identical as well as general final states, we derive analytical expressions, to leading order in the associated CPT violating parameters, for double-decay rates and their time-integrated counterparts. Our analysis shows that the various types of the aforementioned effects may be disentangled through judicious combinations of appropriate observables in a phi factory.Comment: 31 pages revtex, nine eps figures incorporated, Journal version (typos and latex errors corrected, discussion augmented, no changes in conclussions