465 research outputs found
Becoming classical: A possible influence on the quantum-to-classical transition
Although cosmic expansion at very small distances is usually dismissed as
entirely inconsequential, it appears that these extraordinarily small effects
may in fact have a real and significant influence on our world. Calculations
suggest that the minute recessional velocities associated with regions
encompassed by extended bodies may have a role in creating the distinction
between quantum and classical behavior. Using an uncertainty in position
estimated from the spread in velocities associated with its size, the criterion
that the uncertainty in position should be smaller than the extension of the
object leads to a threshold size that could provide a fundamental limit
distinguishing the realm of objects governed by classical laws from those
governed by quantum mechanics.Comment: 2 pages, 0 figures, submitted to Nature for publication as a brief
communicatio
Interpretation of cosmological expansion effects on the quantum-classical transition
Recently, what appears to be a fundamental limit associated with the size of
an object that separates the quantum behavior characterizing small objects from
the classical behavior characterizing large objects has been derived from the
Hubble velocity spread in an extended object. This threshold is now examined
further and interpreted in terms of diffusion processes in stochastic quantum
mechanics. This limiting size that separates quantum behavior from classical
behavior is shown to correspond approximately to the diffusion distance of the
object over the Hubble time.Comment: 8 pages, 0 figure
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