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Black Holes Decohere Quantum Superpositions

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arxiv 2205.06279 v2 pith:2FN5ZERY submitted 2022-05-12 hep-th gr-qcquant-ph

Black Holes Decohere Quantum Superpositions

classification hep-th gr-qcquant-ph
keywords blackquantumholesuperpositionbodysuperpositionsdecohereeffect
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We show that if a massive body is put in a quantum superposition of spatially separated states, the mere presence of a black hole in the vicinity of the body will eventually destroy the coherence of the superposition. This occurs because, in effect, the gravitational field of the body radiates soft gravitons into the black hole, allowing the black hole to acquire "which path" information about the superposition. A similar effect occurs for quantum superpositions of electrically charged bodies. We provide estimates of the decoherence time for such quantum superpositions. We believe that the fact that a black hole will eventually decohere any quantum superposition may be of fundamental significance for our understanding of the nature of black holes in a quantum theory of gravity.

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Cited by 10 Pith papers

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