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In objective collapse theory, do large objects constantly collapse?

So I understood it like this:

Wave collapses into one concentrated point, Wave spreads out, Wave collapses into one concentrated point, Wave spreads out,...

Does it mean large objects like my chair collapse, spread out but almost immediately collapse?

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1 Answer 1

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Yes, that’s the idea behind objective collapse theories.

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  • $\begingroup$ Has someone calculated how long does it take for a large object like chair to collapse? Like, they are collapsing every microsecond or something like that. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 17:08
  • $\begingroup$ @ArAj different theories postulate different conditions and timings for collapse. Typically there are parameters in the theory that determine the rate at which particular quantum states collapse. For example, one theory might cause massive superpositions to collapse quickly but spatially extended superpositions to not collapse to quickly and vice-versa for another theory. So the answer to "how long" it takes the chair to collapse depends on things like the mass and spatial extent of the chair, the particular theory under consideration, and the collapse parameters chosen for that theory $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 19:15
  • $\begingroup$ While certain parameters have been ruled out by present-day mesoscopic superposition experiments, there are still a wide range of parameters which have not yet been ruled out by experiment. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 19:16
  • $\begingroup$ See, for example, the plots in figure 1 arxiv.org/pdf/1805.10100.pdf $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 19:18