title: A proposal for the experimental detection of CSL induced random walk.
abstract: Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) is one possible explanation for dynamically induced collapse of the wave-function during a quantum measurement. The collapse is mediated by a stochastic non-linear modification of the Schrödinger equation. A consequence of the CSL mechanism is an extremely tiny violation of energy-momentum conservation, which can, in principle, be detected in the laboratory via the random diffusion of a particle induced by the stochastic collapse mechanism. In a paper in 2003, Collett and Pearle investigated the translational CSL diffusion of a sphere, and the rotational CSL diffusion of a disc, and showed that this effect dominates over the ambient environmental noise at low temperatures and extremely low pressures (about ten-thousandth of a pico-Torr). In the present paper, we revisit their analysis and argue that this stringent condition on pressure can be relaxed, and that the CSL effect can be seen at the pressure of about a pico-Torr. A similar analysis is provided for diffusion produced by gravity-induced decoherence, where the effect is typically much weaker than CSL. We also discuss the CSL induced random displacement of a quantum oscillator. Lastly, we propose possible experimental set-ups justifying that CSL diffusion is indeed measurable with the current technology.
authors.affiliation: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Homi Bhabha Road Mumbai 400005 India.
authors.forename: Sayantani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bera
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee 247667 India.
authors.forename: Bhawna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Motwani
authors.affiliation: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Homi Bhabha Road Mumbai 400005 India.
authors.forename: Tejinder P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy University of Southampton SO17 1BJ UK.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ulbricht