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Is There a Relation Between the Breakdown of the Superposition Principle and an Indeterminacy in the Structure of the Einsteinian Space-Time?

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Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality, and Closing the Epistemic Circle

Part of the book series: The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science ((WONS,volume 73))

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It has been shown that a small, assessable amount of quantum indeterminacy in the space-time structure leads to the destruction of the coherence of the wave functions (of the ψ's) of macroscopic bodies, whereas the coherence of the ψs of the microparticles remains nearly perfect. Assuming that whenever the coherence gets lost, a breakdown of the superposition principle takes place whether observed or not, it has been possible to formulate the rule for the breakdown such that, due to an instantaneous, stochastic contraction of ψ the loss of the coherence is counterbalanced. After each breakdown ψ undergoes a Schr¨odinger time evolution until the next breakdown. The successive expansion—contraction cycles keepthe indeterminacy of the position of the center of mass (c.m.) of a macroscopic body microscopically small, whereas the indeterminacy of the position of a microparticle may be, and often is macroscopic. The mechanism of the observation-independent decay of a superposition of droplet-tracks in a cloud chamber is also presented.

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Frenkel, A. (2009). Is There a Relation Between the Breakdown of the Superposition Principle and an Indeterminacy in the Structure of the Einsteinian Space-Time?. In: Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality, and Closing the Epistemic Circle. The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 73. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9107-0_15

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