Rationale for a Correlated Worldline Theory of Quantum Gravity

P. C. E. Stamp

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arXiv · 1506.05065

Rationale for a Correlated Worldline Theory of Quantum Gravity

P. C. E. Stamp

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Abstract

It is argued that gravity should cause a breakdown of quantum mechanics, at low energies, accessible to table-top experiments. It is then shown that one can formulate a theory of quantum gravity in which gravitational correlations exist between worldline or worldsheet paths, for the particle or field of interest. Using a generalized equivalence principle, one can give a unique form for the correlators, yielding a theory with no adjustable parameters. A key feature of the theory is the "bunching" of quantum trajectories caused by the gravitational correlations - this is {\it not} a decoherence or a "collapse" mechanism. This bunching causes a breakdown of the superposition principle for large masses, with a very rapid crossover to classical behaviour at an energy scale which depends on the physical structure of the object. Formal details, and applications of the theory, are kept to a minimum in this paper; but we show how physical quantities can be calculated, and give a detailed discussion of the dynamics of a single particle.

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P. C. E. Stamp. 2015-06-16. Rationale for a Correlated Worldline Theory of Quantum Gravity. https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.05065

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