Wavefunction collapse driven by non-Hermitian disturbance

2024/04/25 by Jorge Martínez Romeral, Romeral, Jorge Martinez, Luis E. F. Foa Torres +3
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) #Quantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.16445

openalex publication_date 2024/04/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

In the context of the measurement problem, we propose to model the interaction between a quantum particle and an "apparatus" through a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian term. We simulate the time evolution of a normalized quantum state split into two spin components (via a Stern-Gerlach experiment) and that undergoes a wave-function collapse driven by a non-Hermitian Hatano-Nelson Hamiltonian. We further analyze how the strength and other parameters of the non-Hermitian perturbation influence the time-to-collapse of the wave function obtained under a Schrödinger-type evolution. We finally discuss a thought experiment where manipulation of the apparatus could challenge standard quantum mechanics predictions.

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