Heating of trapped ultracold atoms by collapse dynamics

Abstract

{The Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) theory alters the Schrödinger equation. It describes wave function collapse as a dynamical process instead of an ill-defined postulate, thereby providing macroscopic uniqueness and solving the so-called measurement problem of standard quantum theory. CSL contains a parameter $\lambda$ giving the collapse rate of an isolated nucleon in a superposition of two spatially separated states and, more generally, characterizing the collapse time for any physical situation. CSL is experimentally testable, since it predicts some behavior different from that predicted by standard quantum theory. One example is the narrowing of wave functions, which results in energy imparted to particles. Here we consider energy given to trapped ultra-cold atoms. Since these are the coldest samples under experimental investigation, it is worth inquiring how they are affected by the CSL heating mechanism. We examine the CSL heating of a BEC in contact with its thermal cloud. Of course, other mechanisms also provide heat and also particle loss. From varied data on optically trapped cesium BEC's, we present an energy audit for known heating and loss mechanisms. The result provides an upper limit on CSL heating and thereby an upper limit on the parameter $\lambda$. We obtain $\lambda \lesssim 1(\pm 1)\times 10^{-7}$sec${}^{-1}$.}

36 pages; 5 figures, 3 tables

References in corpus (15)

• Theory of Bose-Einstein condensation in trapped gases
• Models of Wave-function Collapse, Underlying Theories, and Experimental Tests
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• Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms in a uniform potential
• Dynamical Reduction Models
• Ground-State Properties of Magnetically Trapped Bose-Condensed Rubidium Gas
• Three-body recombination at large scattering lengths in an ultracold atomic gas
• Lower and Upper Bounds on CSL Parameters from Latent Image Formation and IGM Heating
• Lifetime of the Bose Gas with Resonant Interactions
• Parameter Diagrams of the GRW and CSL Theories of Wave Function Collapse
• Three-body correlation functions and recombination rates for bosons in three and one dimensions
• Precision Monte Carlo Test of the Hartree-Fock Approximation for a trapped Bose Gas
• Photon emission rate from atomic systems in the CSL model
• How Stands Collapse II
• Consequence for Wavefunction Collapse Model of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Experiment

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• Discriminating the effects of collapse models from environmental diffusion with levitated nanospheres
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• Testing collapse models with Bose-Einstein-Condensate interferometry
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• Revisiting astrophysical bounds on continuous spontaneous localization models
• Underground tests of quantum mechanics. Whispers in the cosmic silence?
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