An Improved Bound on Nonlinear Quantum Mechanics using a Cryogenic Radio Frequency Experiment

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Melnychuk, Oleksandr, Giaccone, Bianca, Bornman, Nicholas, Cervantes, Raphael, Grassellino, Anna, Harnik, Roni, Kaplan, David E., Nahal, Geev, Pilipenko, Roman, Posen, Sam, Rajendran, Surjeet, Sushkov, Alexander O.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Melnychuk, Oleksandr
Giaccone, Bianca
Bornman, Nicholas
Cervantes, Raphael
Grassellino, Anna
Harnik, Roni
Kaplan, David E.
Nahal, Geev
Pilipenko, Roman
Posen, Sam
Rajendran, Surjeet
Sushkov, Alexander O.
author_facet Melnychuk, Oleksandr
Giaccone, Bianca
Bornman, Nicholas
Cervantes, Raphael
Grassellino, Anna
Harnik, Roni
Kaplan, David E.
Nahal, Geev
Pilipenko, Roman
Posen, Sam
Rajendran, Surjeet
Sushkov, Alexander O.
contents There are strong arguments that quantum mechanics may be nonlinear in its dynamics. A discovery of nonlinearity would hint at a novel understanding of the interplay between gravity and quantum field theory, for example. As such, experiments searching for potential nonlinear effects in the electromagnetic sector are important. Here we outline such an experiment, consisting of a stream of random bits (which were generated using Rigetti's Aspen-M-3 chip) as input to an RF signal generator coupled to a cryogenic detector. Projective measurements of the qubit state, which is originally prepared in an equal superposition, serve as the random binary output of a signal generator. Thereafter, spectral analysis of the RF detector would yield a detectable excess signal predicted to arise from such a nonlinear effect. A comparison between the projective measurements of the quantum bits vs the classical baseline showed no power excess. This sets a new limit on the electromagnetic nonlinearity parameter $|ε| \lessapprox 1.15 \times 10^{-12}$, at a 90.0% confidence level. This is the most stringent limit on nonlinear quantum mechanics thus far and an improvement by nearly a factor of 50 over the previous experimental limit.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_09611
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Improved Bound on Nonlinear Quantum Mechanics using a Cryogenic Radio Frequency Experiment
Melnychuk, Oleksandr
Giaccone, Bianca
Bornman, Nicholas
Cervantes, Raphael
Grassellino, Anna
Harnik, Roni
Kaplan, David E.
Nahal, Geev
Pilipenko, Roman
Posen, Sam
Rajendran, Surjeet
Sushkov, Alexander O.
Quantum Physics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Instrumentation and Detectors
There are strong arguments that quantum mechanics may be nonlinear in its dynamics. A discovery of nonlinearity would hint at a novel understanding of the interplay between gravity and quantum field theory, for example. As such, experiments searching for potential nonlinear effects in the electromagnetic sector are important. Here we outline such an experiment, consisting of a stream of random bits (which were generated using Rigetti's Aspen-M-3 chip) as input to an RF signal generator coupled to a cryogenic detector. Projective measurements of the qubit state, which is originally prepared in an equal superposition, serve as the random binary output of a signal generator. Thereafter, spectral analysis of the RF detector would yield a detectable excess signal predicted to arise from such a nonlinear effect. A comparison between the projective measurements of the quantum bits vs the classical baseline showed no power excess. This sets a new limit on the electromagnetic nonlinearity parameter $|ε| \lessapprox 1.15 \times 10^{-12}$, at a 90.0% confidence level. This is the most stringent limit on nonlinear quantum mechanics thus far and an improvement by nearly a factor of 50 over the previous experimental limit.
title An Improved Bound on Nonlinear Quantum Mechanics using a Cryogenic Radio Frequency Experiment
topic Quantum Physics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.09611