On Gravity's Role in Quantum State Reduction

by Yaron Kedem

Tuesday 20 Oct 2026, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Stockholm

AlbaNova A5:1041 - CoPS grupprum (AlbaNova Main Building)

Roger Penrose

Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 28, 581–600 (1996)

The stability of a quantum superposition of two different stationary mass distributions is examined, where the perturbing effect of each distribution on the space-time structure is taken into account, in accordance with the principles of general relativity. It is argued that the definition of the time-translation operator for the superposed space-times involves an inherent ill-definedness, leading to an essential uncertainty in the energy of the superposed state which, in the Newtonian limit, is proportional to the gravitational self-energy $E_{\Delta}$ of the difference between the two mass distributions. This is consistent with a suggested finite lifetime of the order of $\hbar /  E_{\Delta}$ for the superposed state, in agreement with a certain proposal made by the author for a gravitationally induced spontaneous quantum state reduction, and with closely related earlier suggestions by Diósi and by Ghirardi et al.