Problems with the Newton-Schrödinger equations

DOI10.1088/1367-2630/16/8/085007MaRDI QIDQ5143535zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors

Publication date 12 January 2021

Published in New Journal of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.4921

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Gravitational interaction in quantum theory (81V17)

Abstract: We examine the origin of the Newton-Schr"odinger equations (NSEs) that play an important role in alternative quantum theories (AQT), macroscopic quantum mechanics and gravity-induced decoherence. We show that NSEs for individual particles do not follow from general relativity (GR) plus quantum field theory (QFT). Contrary to what is commonly assumed, the NSEs are not the weak-field (WF), non-relativistic (NR) limit of the semi-classical Einstein equation (SCE) (this nomenclature is preferred over the `M/oller-Rosenfeld equation') based on GR+QFT. The wave-function in the NSEs makes sense only as that for a mean field describing a system of $N$ particles as $Nightarrowinfty$, not that of a single or finite many particles. From GR+QFT the gravitational self-interaction leads to mass renormalization, not to a non-linear term in the evolution equations of some AQTs. The WF-NR limit of the gravitational interaction in GR+QFT involves no dynamics. To see the contrast, we give a derivation of the equation (i) governing the many-body wave function from GR+QFT and (ii) for the non-relativistic limit of quantum electrodynamics (QED). They have the same structure, being linear, and very different from NSEs. Adding to this our earlier consideration that for gravitational decoherence the master equations based on GR+QFT lead to decoherence in the energy basis and not in the position basis, despite some AQTs desiring it for the `collapse of the wave function', we conclude that the origins and consequences of NSEs are very different, and should be clearly demarcated from those of the SCE equation, the only legitimate representative of semiclassical gravity, based on GR+QFT.

Recommendations

• The Schrödinger-Newton equation and its foundations
• The Schrödinger-Newton equations beyond Newton
• Schrödinger–Newton ‘collapse’ of the wavefunction
• Notes on certain Newton gravity mechanisms of wavefunction localization and decoherence
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2235121

Cites work

• A Hamilton operator for quantum optics in gravitational fields
• A master equation for gravitational decoherence: probing the textures of spacetime
• A Radon-Nikodym theorem for completely positive maps
• Analogue gravity
• Completely positive linear maps on complex matrices
• Derivation of the Schrödinger-Poisson equation from the quantum N-body problem
• Dynamical reduction models
• Hawking Radiation and Unitary Evolution
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3974917 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 42053 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1866310 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 815101 (Why is no real title available?)
• Incorporating gravity into trace dynamics: the induced gravitational action
• Is a graviton detectable?
• Nonlinear quantum dynamical semigroups for many-body open systems
• On gravity's role in quantum state reduction
• On quantization of fields
• Quantum computation, entanglement and state reduction
• Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime
• Quantum fields in curved space.
• Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon
• Semiclassical effects in black hole interiors
• Stochastic gravity: a primer with applications
• Stochastic gravity: theory and applications
• Stress-energy tensor of quantized scalar fields in static spherically symmetric spacetimes
• THE POINT PROCESSES OF THE GRW THEORY OF WAVE FUNCTION COLLAPSE
• Unified dynamics for microscopic and macroscopic systems
• Weak coupling limit of the N-particle Schrödinger equation

Cited in

(18)

• Quantum solitonic wave-packet of a meso-scopic system in singularity free gravity
• Spacetime fluctuations and a stochastic Schrödinger-Newton equation
• Testing de Broglie's double solution in the mesoscopic regime
• Tabletop experiments for quantum gravity: a user's manual
• Dephasing and inhibition of spin interference from semi-classical self-gravitation
• The Schrödinger-Newton equation and its foundations
• Notes on certain Newton gravity mechanisms of wavefunction localization and decoherence
• Gravitational decoherence
• Impact of relativity on particle localizability and ground state entanglement
• Gravitational decoherence of dark matter
• Entanglement decoherence in a gravitational well according to the event formalism
• Quantum superposition of two gravitational cat states
• Emergence of Classicality in Stern–Gerlach Experiment via Self‐Gravity
• Focus on gravitational quantum physics
• Gravity-mediated entanglement via infinite-dimensional systems
• Non-relativistic gravity and its coupling to matter
• The Schrödinger-Newton equations beyond Newton
• Initial condition dependence and wave function confinement in the Schrödinger-Newton equation

This page was built for publication: Problems with the Newton-Schrödinger equations

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5143535)