Spinning Wipes Out Quantum Uncertainty ✛ ✦

Original: "A post-Newtonian Gravitational Collapse Model from Linearized Gravity"
arXiv:2605.12172v1 · 2026-05-12 · CC BY 4.0 · 1 min
By adding rotation to gravitational collapse, physicists saw how fast-spinning objects lose their quantum uncertainty.

Roger Penrose proposed that in the macro-world, quantum uncertainty vanishes due to gravity: it acts slightly differently on the two branches of a superposition, breaking their coherence. Incorporating spin into the model based on Einstein's theory yielded an unexpected result — centrifugal forces accelerate the decay. It's like a carousel: two balls try to stay in two places at once, but the spinning knocks them into a single position. So gravity and rotation together speed up decoherence and collapse, destroying quantum entanglement even more effectively.

The effect is noticeable on objects ranging from levitating nanospheres to neutron stars. This gives experimentalists a great opportunity: the higher the spin rate, the more quantum properties are suppressed. Measurements on rapidly rotating particles will help refine the uncertainty principle of Heisenberg and explore the region where spacetime curvature meets the quantum.

The spin record-holder is the pulsar PSR J1748-2446ad, rotating at 716 times per second. Its surface races at 15% of the speed of light — here, gravity and quantum laws clash head-on.

The pulsar PSR J1748-2446ad spins so fast that points on its equator move at 45,000 km/s — 15% of the speed of light, faster than any artificial object in the Universe.

The novel 'Dragon's Egg' describes life on a neutron star with its insane gravity and rotation. It seems such extreme worlds are ideal laboratories for testing new theories at the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity.

L_{\text{rot}} \hat{\sigma} = -\frac{1}{2\hbar^2} \int d^3x d^3y D^{kl}_A(\vec{x}, \vec{y}) \chi_{ki;lm}(\vec{x}, \vec{y}) [\hat{L}_i, [\hat{L}_m, \hat{\sigma}]]
Here D^{kl}_A is the gravitomagnetic noise correlator, χ involves the inertia tensor and Levi-Civita symbols, and ˆL_i are angular momentum operator components. The double commutator drives decoherence in the angular momentum basis.
Scientists
Bryce DeWittCarlo RovelliJohn Archibald WheelerAlbert EinsteinRobert H. DickeJohn Stewart Bell
Concepts
classical gravity newtonian gravity gravitational collapse Penrose singularity theorem geodesic equation newtonian limit gravitational potential general relativity quantum bounce collapse supergravity free fall dilaton equivalence principle test cosmological bounce equivalence principle Wheeler-DeWitt equation pendulum electromagnetism Gleason's theorem