2025/08/14 by Balaji, Viswak R, Punch, Samuel
#Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph) #Emerging Technologies (cs.ET) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2508.10590
We present a quantum computing simulation study of mass-dependent decoherence models inspired by Penrose's gravity-induced collapse hypothesis. According to objective reduction (OR) theory, quantum superpositions become unstable when the gravitational self-energy difference between branches exceeds a certain threshold, leading to a collapse time τ≈ ℏ / EG. In this work, we implement a mass-dependent dephasing noise channel, p(m) = 1 - e-k mα, within the Qiskit AerSimulator, where m is a proxy for the effective mass of a superposition, mapped to circuit parameters such as the number of entangled qubits or branch size. We apply this model to three canonical quantum computing experiments: GHZ state parity measurements, branch-mass entanglement tests, and Grover's search to generate distinctive collapse signatures that differ qualitatively from constant-rate dephasing. The resulting patterns serve as a baseline reference: if future hardware experiments exhibit the same scaling trends under ideal isolation, this could indicate a contribution from mass-dependent collapse processes. Conversely, deviation toward constant-noise behaviour would suggest the absence of such gravitationally induced effects. Our results provide a reproducible protocol and reference for using quantum computers as potential testbeds for probing fundamental questions in quantum mechanics.