Scientific content and Goals

The aim of the PAMQ Project is to carry out highly sensitive tests of:

1)Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP)

2)Wave function collapse models

and to investigate their consequences in various fields of science and technology.

1) The VIP-2 experiment consists of two complementary and intertwined branches of research, each characterized by a set of dedicated experiments, which are carried out in the very low noise environment of the Gran Sasso National Laboratories (INFN):

1.1) VIP-2 Open Systems – is the most sensitive experimental test of PEP for electrons, in the context of modified Field Theories (such as Quon Theory), which predict PEP violation. These models are subject to the Messiah-Greenberg (MG) superselection rule, which prohibits transitions between two different symmetry states, and can therefore be tested exclusively via Open Systems. This condition is achieved by introducing new electrons into a pre-existing electron system and testing the resulting state of symmetry. Two upgrades of the experiment are currently underway, with the aim of scanning the probability of PEP violation across the entire periodic table.

1.2) VIP-2 Closed Systems – effective Quantum Gravity (QG) models predict the violation of PEP at the non-commutativity scale of space-time operators. These models violate MG and can be tested with closed systems. Our experiments are placing the strongest constraints on QG models, directing future theoretical research.

2) Dynamic collapse models explain the collapse of the wave function in quantum mechanics. Of particular interest is gravity-induced collapse, which could reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. Our analyses, after having falsified the simplest version of the model, are leading to the development of more general models, and the study of their consequences.