Close the decoherence-diffusion window for classical gravity
In plain words
If gravity is classical while matter is quantum, consistency requires gravity to both blur superpositions and make the gravitational pull jitter randomly. Measuring both effects together can exclude such theories.
Precise statement
In classical-quantum gravity (Oppenheim and coworkers), the decoherence coefficient $D_2$ for mass superpositions and the diffusion coefficient $D_0$ of the Newtonian potential obey a trade-off with $D_0D_2$ bounded below (Oppenheim, Sparaciari, Soda, Weller-Davies, Nature Communications 2023). Determine whether coherence times from matter-wave interferometry combined with acceleration-noise data (torsion balances, Cavendish-type experiments, LISA Pathfinder) exclude the entire allowed $(D_0,D_2)$ region for each choice of kernel.
What would settle it
Joint bounds from interferometric coherence and gravitational acceleration noise leaving no allowed $(D_{0}, D_{2})$ for the model class.
Status in the literature
Unverified note: it names recent work and was partly written without a live literature search; it awaits a check by an editor.
The trade-off was derived in 2022-2023 (arXiv:2203.01982); 2025 proposals test it via classical diffusion of probe masses (arXiv:2501.13030).
Parent problems
- Special case of Must the gravitational field obey quantum superposition? · open · from revision 1
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