Testing the Large Scale Limit of Quantum Mechanics

Testing the Large Scale Limit of Quantum Mechanics

Whether we can observe quantum superpositions of macroscopic objects is arguably ‘the’ open question in quantum physics. Now, a team of quantum scientists joined in consortium to address such a fundamental quest from an innovative standpoint, supported by a grant awarded by the European Commission (EC). The H2020 FET Open project TEQ (Testing the large- scale limit of quantum mechanics) puts together 8 leading European research group and company MSquared to explore quantum effects at the large scale under the support of the EC Horizon2020 research framework programme. The team will levitate a small particle within a well-controlled environment, with low temperature and low vibrations. In such an environment an indirect test of the quantum superposition principle can be performed by analyzing carefully the noise that affects the center of mass motion of the trapped particle. The measured noise will then be compared to theoretical predictions from different models - some of which assume a breakdown of quantum superposition principle.