Abstract
We study lower and upper bounds on the parameters for stochastic state vector reduction, focusing on the mass-proportional continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model. We show that the assumption that the state vector is reduced when a latent image is formed, in photography or etched track detection, requires a CSL reduction rate parameter λ that is larger than conventionally assumed by a factor of roughly 2 × 109±2, for a correlation length rC of 10−5cm. We reanalyse existing upper bounds on the reduction rate and conclude that all are compatible with such an increase in λ. The best bounds that we have obtained come from a consideration of heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM), which shows that λ can be at most ∼108±1 times as large as the standard CSL value, again for rC = 10−5cm. (For both the lower and upper bounds, quoted errors are not purely statistical errors, but rather are estimates reflecting modelling uncertainties.) We discuss modifications in our analysis corresponding to a larger value of rC. With a substantially enlarged rate parameter, CSL effects may be within range of experimental detection (or refutation) with current technologies.
Published Version
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