Testing gravity-driven collapse of the wave function via cosmogenic neutrinos

Area of Science:

• Quantum physics
• Cosmology
• Particle physics

Background:

• The Diósi-Penrose ansatz proposes gravity-induced quantum state reduction.
• Testing this ansatz is crucial for understanding quantum mechanics and gravity.
• Previous experimental proposals faced challenges with environmental decoherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel method for testing the Diósi-Penrose ansatz.
• To investigate the universality of the superposition principle at cosmological scales.
• To leverage next-generation neutrino detectors for high-precision measurements.

Main Methods:

• Observing flavor ratio oscillations in distant neutrinos.
• Utilizing large-scale neutrino detectors like IceCube.
• Minimizing environmental decoherence effects.

Main Results:

• Neutrino flavor oscillations offer a clean signature for testing quantum gravity effects.
• Cosmological neutrino flavor oscillations provide a unique probe of the Diósi-Penrose ansatz.
• This method surpasses the precision of previous experimental proposals.

Conclusions:

• The Diósi-Penrose ansatz can be experimentally tested using cosmological neutrinos.
• Next-generation neutrino detectors offer a promising avenue for this test.
• The study explores the superposition principle's validity on unprecedented scales.