arXiv subjects

Sandro Donadi

Publications and source records attributed to Sandro Donadi.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Cold Atoms in Space: Community Workshop Summary and Proposed Road-Map

We summarize the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with ESA and national space and research funding agencies.

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arXiv2021

A Future-Input Dependent Path Integral for Quantum Mechanics

We here put forward a new path-integral over Hilbert space and show that it reproduces quantum mechanics exactly. This approach works by optimizing the generating functional under a variation of the final state; it is hence an example of a future-input dependent theory. The benefit of this method is that entangled states appear in the paths directly, and the generating functional can be modified to also include wave-function collapse.

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arXiv2021

A Toy Model for Local and Deterministic Wave-function Collapse

A local, deterministic toy model for quantum mechanics is introduced and discussed. It is demonstrated that, when averaged over the hidden variables, the model produces the same predictions as quantum mechanics. In the model considered here, the dynamics depends only on the settings of the measurement device at the detection time, not how those settings were chosen. As a consequence, the model is locally causal but violates statistical independence. We show that it is neither fine-tuned nor allows for superluminal signalling.

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arXiv2021

Novel CSL bounds from the noise-induced radiation emission from atoms

We study spontaneous radiation emission from matter, as predicted by the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) collapse model. We show that, in an appropriate range of energies of the emitted radiation, the largest contribution comes from the atomic nuclei. Specifically, we show that in the energy range $E\sim 10\,-\,10^{5}$ keV the contribution to the radiation emission from the atomic nuclei grows quadratically with the atomic number of the atom, overtaking the contribution from the electrons, which grows only linearly. This theoretical prediction is then compared with the data from a dedicated experiment performed at the extremely low background environment of the Gran Sasso underground National Laboratory, where the radiation emitted from a sample of Germanium was measured. As a result, we obtain the strongest bounds on the CSL parameters for $r_C\leq 10^{-6}$ m, improving the previous ones by more than an order of magnitude.

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arXiv2021

Testing the foundations of quantum physics in space Interferometric and non-interferometric tests with Large Particles

Quantum technologies are opening novel avenues for applied and fundamental science at an impressive pace. In this perspective article, we focus on the promises coming from the combination of quantum technologies and space science to test the very foundations of quantum physics and, possibly, new physics. In particular, we survey the field of mesoscopic superpositions of nanoparticles and the potential of interferometric and non-interferometric experiments in space for the investigation of the superposition principle of quantum mechanics and the quantum-to-classical transition. We delve into the possibilities offered by the state-of-the-art of nanoparticle physics projected in the space environment and discuss the numerous challenges, and the corresponding potential advancements, that the space environment presents. In doing this, we also offer an ab-initio estimate of the potential of space-based interferometry with some of the largest systems ever considered and show that there is room for tests of quantum mechanics at an unprecedented level of detail.

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arXiv2020

A Quantum Spectrometer for Arbitrary Noise

We present a technique for recovering the spectrum of a non-Markovian bosonic bath and/or non-Markovian noises coupled to an harmonic oscillator. The treatment is valid under the conditions that the environment is large and hot compared to the oscillator, and that its temporal auto-correlation functions are symmetric with respect to time translation and reflection -- criteria which we consider fairly minimal. We model a demonstration of the technique as deployed in the experimental scenario of a nanosphere levitated in a Paul trap, and show that it would effectively probe the spectrum of an electric field noise source from $10^2\,-\,10^6$ Hz with a resolution inversely proportional to the measurement time. This technique may be deployed in quantum sensing, metrology, computing, and in experimental probes of foundational questions

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arXiv2020

Optimized auxiliary oscillators for the simulation of general open quantum systems

A method for the systematic construction of few-body damped harmonic oscillator networks accurately reproducing the effect of general bosonic environments in open quantum systems is presented. Under the sole assumptions of a Gaussian environment and regardless of the system coupled to it, an algorithm to determine the parameters of an equivalent set of interacting damped oscillators obeying a Markovian quantum master equation is introduced. By choosing a suitable coupling to the system and minimizing an appropriate distance between the two-time correlation function of this effective bath and that of the target environment, the error induced in the reduced dynamics of the system is brought under rigorous control. The interactions among the effective modes provide remarkable flexibility in replicating non-Markovian effects on the system even with a small number of oscillators, and the resulting Lindblad equation may therefore be integrated at a very reasonable computational cost using standard methods for Markovian problems, even in strongly non-perturbative coupling regimes and at arbitrary temperatures including zero. We apply the method to an exactly solvable problem in order to demonstrate its accuracy, and present a study based on current research in the context of coherent transport in biological aggregates as a more realistic example of its use; performance and versatility are highlighted, and theoretical and numerical advantages over existing methods, as well as possible future improvements, are discussed.

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arXiv2019

Collapse models: main properties and the state of art of the experimental tests

Collapse models represent one of the possible solutions to the measurement problem. These models modify the Schrödinger dynamics with non-linear and stochastic terms, which guarantee the localization in space of the wave function avoiding macroscopic superpositions, like that described in the Schrödinger's cat paradox. The Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) and the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) models are the most studied among the collapse models. Here, we briefly summarize the main features of these models and the advances in their experimental investigation.

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arXiv2017

Gravity induced wave function collapse

Starting from an idea of S.L. Adler~\cite{Adler2015}, we develop a novel model of gravity-induced spontaneous wave-function collapse. The collapse is driven by complex stochastic fluctuations of the spacetime metric. After deriving the fundamental equations, we prove the collapse and amplification mechanism, the two most important features of a consistent collapse model. Under reasonable simplifying assumptions, we constrain the strength $ξ$ of the complex metric fluctuations with available experimental data. We show that $ξ\geq 10^{-26}$ in order for the model to guarantee classicality of macro-objects, and at the same time $ξ\leq 10^{-20}$ in order not to contradict experimental evidence. As a comparison, in the recent discovery of gravitational waves in the frequency range 35 to 250 Hz, the (real) metric fluctuations reach a peak of $ξ\sim 10^{-21}$.

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arXiv2016

Bounds on collapse models from cold-atom experiments

The spontaneous localization mechanism of collapse models induces a Brownian motion in all physical systems. This effect is very weak, but experimental progress in creating ultracold atomic systems can be used to detect it. In this paper, we considered a recent experiment [1], where an atomic ensemble was cooled down to picokelvins. Any Brownian motion induces an extra increase of the position variance of the gas. We study this effect by solving the dynamical equations for the Continuous Spontaneous Localizations (CSL) model, as well as for its non-Markovian and dissipative extensions. The resulting bounds, with a 95% of confidence level, are beaten only by measurements of spontaneous X-ray emission and by experiments with cantilever (in the latter case, only for rC > 10^(-7) m, where rC is one of the two collapse parameters of the CSL model). We show that, contrary to the bounds given by X-ray measurements, non-Markovian effects do not change the bounds, for any reasonable choice of a frequency cutoff in the spectrum of the collapse noise. Therefore the bounds here considered are more robust. We also show that dissipative effects are unimportant for a large spectrum of temperatures of the noise, while for low temperatures the excluded region in the parameter space is the more reduced, the lower the temperature.

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arXiv2016

Bohmian Mechanics, Collapse Models and the emergence of Classicality

We discuss the emergence of classical trajectories in Bohmian Mechanics (BM), when a macroscopic object interacts with an external environment. We show that in such a case the conditional wave function of the system follows a dynamics which, under reasonable assumptions, corresponds to that of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) collapse model. As a consequence, Bohmian trajectories evolve classically. Our analysis also shows how the GRW (istantaneous) collapse process can be derived by an underlying continuous interaction of a quantum system with an external agent, thus throwing a light on how collapses can emerge from a deeper level theory.

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arXiv2015

A comparison between models of gravity induced decoherence

It has been suggested in the literature that spatial coherence of the wave function can be dynamically suppressed by fluctuations in the spacetime geometry. These fluctuations represent the minimal uncertainty that is present when one probes spacetime geometry with a quantum probe. Two similar models have been proposed, one by Diósi [D-model] and one by Karolyhazy and collaborators [K-model], based on apparently unrelated minimal spacetime bounds. The two models arrive at somewhat different expressions for the dependence of the localization coherence length on the mass and size of the quantum object. In the present article we compare and contrast the two models from three aspects: (i) comparison of the spacetime bounds, (ii) method of calculating decoherence time, (iii) comparison of noise correlation. We show that under certain conditions the minimal spacetime bounds in the two models can be derived one from the other. We argue that the methods of calculating the decoherence time are equivalent. We re-derive the two-point correlation for the fluctuation potential in the K-model, and confirm the earlier result of Diósi and Lukács that it is non-white noise, unlike in the D-model, where the corresponding correlation is white noise in time. This seems to be the origin of the different results in the two models. We derive the non-Markovian master equation for the K-model. We argue that the minimal spacetime bound cannot predict the noise correlation uniquely, and additional criteria are necessary to accurately determine the effects of gravitationally induced decoherence.

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arXiv2014

The Schrödinger-Newton equation and its foundations

The necessity of quantising the gravitational field is still subject to an open debate. In this paper we compare the approach of quantum gravity, with that of a fundamentally semi-classical theory of gravity, in the weak-field non-relativistic limit. We show that, while in the former case the Schrödinger equation stays linear, in the latter case one ends up with the so-called Schrödinger-Newton equation, which involves a nonlinear, non-local gravitational contribution. We further discuss that the Schrödinger-Newton equation does not describe the collapse of the wave-function, although it was initially proposed for exactly this purpose. Together with the standard collapse postulate, fundamentally semi-classical gravity gives rise to superluminal signalling. A consistent fundamentally semi-classical theory of gravity can therefore only be achieved together with a suitable prescription of the wave-function collapse. We further discuss, how collapse models avoid such superluminal signalling and compare the nonlinearities appearing in these models with those in the Schrödinger-Newton equation.

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arXiv2014

Spontaneous photon-emission from a non-relativistic free charged particle in collapse models: A case-study

We study the photon emission rate of a non relativistic charged particle interacting with an external classical noise through its position. Both the particle and the electromagnetic field are quantized. Under only the dipole approximation, the equations of motion can be solved exactly for a free particle, or a particle bounded by an harmonic potential. The physical quantity we will be interested in is the spectrum of the radiation emitted by the particle, due to the interaction with the noise. We will highlight several properties of the spectrum and clarify some issues appeared in the literature, regarding the exact mathematical formula of a spectrum for a free particle.

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arXiv2013

On spontaneous photon emission in collapse models

We reanalyze the problem of spontaneous photon emission in collapse models. We show that the extra term found by Bassi and Duerr is present for non-white (colored) noise, but its coefficient is proportional to the zero frequency Fourier component of the noise. This leads one to suspect that the extra term is an artifact. When the calculation is repeated with the final electron in a wave packet and with the noise confined to a bounded region, the extra term vanishes in the limit of continuum state normalization. The result obtained by Fu and by Adler and Ramazanoglu from application of the Golden Rule is then recovered.

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