PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv
Where should we look for the deviation from quantum mechanics?
Abstract
We argue that the experimental measurement of the lifetime and decay law of metastable helium is a promising way to find a deviation from quantum mechanics. We analyze the decay of the metastable state for a quartic deformation of quantum mechanics. We find that the absolute change of the mean lifetime can be significant even if the modification is small. We show that, in the Wigner--Weisskopf approximation, the deviation from the exponential law in the modified theory can occur on time scales comparable with the lifetime.
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BibTeX
@misc{nicolas2026where,
title = {{Where should we look for the deviation from quantum mechanics?}},
author = {Jerome Nicolas and Albert Schwarz},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.24857},
eprint = {2610.24857},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24857},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Where should we look for the deviation from quantum mechanics?
AU - Jerome Nicolas
AU - Albert Schwarz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/17
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.24857
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24857
AB - We argue that the experimental measurement of the lifetime and decay law of metastable helium is a promising way to find a deviation from quantum mechanics. We analyze the decay of the metastable state for a quartic deformation of quantum mechanics. We find that the absolute change of the mean lifetime can be significant even if the modification is small. We show that, in the Wigner--Weisskopf approximation, the deviation from the exponential law in the modified theory can occur on time scales comparable with the lifetime.
ER -