2. Quantum Properties of Spacetime with Fluctuating Gravitational Background
At the quantum level, spacetime undergoes stochastic fluctuations driven by GBN, relics of the Big Bang, and the relativistic dynamics of massive bodies. In what follows, we will demonstrate that these fluctuations generate curvature wrinkles that disturb quantum systems, ultimately leading to decoherence and the transition to classical behavior.
The non-locality of quantum mechanics, as exemplified by the EPR paradox, presents significant challenges in reconciling it with the locality of relativistic spacetime [
1,
2]. The stochastic quantum hydrodynamic approach incorporates these spacetime fluctuations into the quantum potential, effectively suppressing long-range quantum coherence. This mechanism enables the transition to classical mechanics without requiring an external environment or ad hoc assumptions, thus addressing the fundamental issues of the quantum-to-classical transition and wavefunction collapse.
Recent advancements in decoherence theory confirm that interactions with fluctuations play a crucial role in localizing quantum states [
3,
4,
5,
6]. The proposed SQHM builds on these insights, treating spacetime itself as a self-fluctuating system—devoid of an external environment—that gradually loses quantum coherence on scales both larger than the de Broglie wavelength and the theory-defined action distance of the quantum potential [
7].
2.1. The Stochastic Quantum Hydrodynamic Model
The Madelung quantum hydrodynamic representation transforms the Schrodinger equation
for the complex wave function
, into two equations of real variable [
8,
9,
10]: the conservation equation for the mass density
and the motion equation for the momentum
,
where
and where
Following the hypothesis that considers the GBN as a source of quantum decoherence [
11] and by introducing it into Madelung quantum hydrodynamics, equation (1-4) yields a generalized stochastic quantum model capable of describing wavefunction collapse dynamics and the measurement process, leading to a fully self-consistent generalized quantum theory [
12,
13].
To incorporate the presence of the GBN into equations (1–4), we must account for how it perturbs the quantum physical system. The first contribution arises from the energy content of the GBN, which, according to the principle of mass-energy equivalence in General Relativity, can be represented as a locally fluctuating mass density. As shown in [
7,
13], this effect of the GBN can be described by the following assumptions:
The mass density of GBN is described by its wavefunction with density;
The associated energy density of GBN is proportional to ;
The associated mass of GBN is defined by the identity
The GBN mass density is approximately assumed to not interact with the mass of the physical system (since the gravitational interaction is sufficiently weak to be disregarded in the Hamiltonian potential
in (3)) and the wavefunction of the overall system
reads as
Additionally, given that the energy density of GBN is quite small, the mass density is presumed to be significantly smaller than the body mass density typically encountered in physical problems. Hence, considering the mass to be much smaller than the mass of the system, we can assume in Equations (3-4).
The second effect of the GBN arises from the gravitational (geometrical) nature of its mass/energy distribution, which induces local variations in the mass density of the physical system. These fluctuations in mass density of the physical system can be understood by noting that gravitational waves are metric perturbations that cause spacetime itself to oscillate. This oscillation leads to contractions and elongations of distances, similar to the effects observed in gravitational wave detections at the LIGO and VIRGO laboratories. As a result, when the wavefunction undergoes such spatial elongations or contractions, the system’s mass density distribution correspondingly decreases or increases. In this way, spatial contractions and elongations influence the quantum potential energy, as it depends on the mass concentration of the physical system.
By introducing the GBN-induced mass density fluctuations into the quantum potential (4), and following the procedure outlined in reference [
7,
13], Equations (1–4) lead to a system of stochastic quantum differential motion equations.
For systems whose physical size is on the order of the De Broglie wavelength, the resulting quantum-stochastic hydrodynamic equations governing the evolution of the complex field...
, acquire a simpler form and reads [
7,
13]
Given the physical length of the system
, the diffusion coefficient in (7) can be readjusted as
where
depends by the characteristics of the system [
7,
13], and
is the De Broglie length defining physical distance below which the quantum coherence is maintained in presence of fluctuations and the friction coefficient
is of the form
where the semiempirical parameter
, expressing the ability of the system to dissipate energy, obeys to the condition [
7,
13]
Incorporating the time-reversal symmetry of quantum mechanics.
From a general perspective, the solution of the quantum-stochastic hydrodynamic model (SQHM) for
, encompassing its macroscopic behavior, is not captured by (7-12) because the force fluctuations
induced by the quantum potential, owing to its non-local nature, possess a finite correlation length such that
, where
and depend on the spatial point
[
7,
13] . Only for microscopic systems, where
and
, does the force noise become Markovian.
On a given scale , the amplitude of fluctuations, denoted by the diffusion coefficient in (10), tends to zero, indicating a form of noise damping induced by the quantum potential that has no counterpart in classical stochastic systems. From the quantum hydrodynamic standpoint, the mass density distribution behaves like an elastic membrane that becomes increasingly resistant to deformation at wavelengths smaller than the De Broglie wavelength, thereby suppressing the manifestation of gravitational background fluctuations (a quantum effect on geometric gravity).
It is straightforward to see that for or equivalently , the Madelung quantum deterministic limit, in the form of the quantum hydrodynamic analogy (1-4), is recovered as well as both and .
The conventional quantum mechanics is recovered for null noise (or equivalently for microscopic systems whose physical length is much smaller than the De Broglie length).
Nonetheless, it must be observed that under special conditions such as
, the SQHM leads to the Brownian quantum behavior [
7,
13].
In the stochastic quantum hydrodynamic representation, the quantum mass density
is generalized by the probability mass density (PMD)
determined by the probability transition function
[
14] obeying to the Smoluchowski conservation equation [
14] for the Marcovian process (7)
, establishing the phase-space mass density conservation
that leads to the spacetime mass density distribution
in the
In the context of (7-9), does not denote the quantum wavefunction; rather, it represents the generalized quantum-stochastic probability wave that adheres to the limit.
It is worth noting that the SQHM equations (7-9), stemming from the presence of noise curvature wrinkles of spacetime (a form of dark energy), describe a self-fluctuating quantum system where the noise is an intrinsic property of the reference system that is not generated by an environment. An in-depth discussion regarding the property of true randomness or pseudo-randomness of the gravitational background noise is provided in part two of this work.
2.2. Emerging Classical Behavior
When manually nullifying the quantum potential in the equations of motion for quantum hydrodynamics (1-4), the classical equation of motion emerges [
9,
10]. However, despite the apparent validity of this claim, such an operation is not mathematically sound as it alters the essential characteristics of the quantum hydrodynamic equations. Specifically, this action leads to the elimination of stationary configurations, i.e., quantum eigenstates, as the balancing force of the quantum potential against the Hamiltonian force —which establishes their stationary condition [
9,
10]—is eliminated. Consequently, even a small quantum potential cannot be disregarded in conventional quantum mechanics that is the zero-noise 'deterministic' limit of the SQHM (7-9).
Conversely, in the stochastic generalization, it is possible to correctly neglect the quantum potential in (7) when its force is much smaller than the force noise
such as, by (7),
that leads to condition
and hence, in a coarse-grained description with elemental cell side
, such as
It is worth noting that, despite the noise
having a zero mean, the mean of the fluctuations in the quantum potential, denoted as
, is not null. This not-null mean contributes to the frictional dissipative force
in equation (7) [
7,
13]. Consequently, the stochastic sequence of noise inputs disrupts the coherent dynamic evolution of the quantum superposition of states, leading them to frictionally decay to a stationary mass density distribution with
. Moreover, by observing that the stochastic force noise
grows with the size of the system, for macroscopic systems (
), condition (17) can be satisfied if
Since systems obeying (20) may exhibit a rather extended meso-scale in the transition between quantum to classical behavior, a more stringent requirement such as:
can be imposed in cases where the transition from the quantum to classical regime is well-defined and the macroscopic behavior is completely free from non-local quantum potential interaction.
Recognizing that since for linear systems it holds
we readily can observe that these systems are incapable of generating macroscopic classical phases. Generally speaking, as the Hamiltonian potential strengthens, the wave function localization increases and the quantum potential behavior at infinity becomes more prominent.
In fact, by considering the mass density
where
is polynomial of order
, it becomes evident that a vanishing quantum potential interaction at infinity is achieved if and only if
.
On the other hand, for instance, for gas phases with particles that interact by the Lennard-Jones potential, whose long-distance wave function reads [
15]
the quantum potential that reads
develops the quantum force
that can lead to classical behavior [
7,
13] in a sufficiently rarefied phase.
It is interesting to note that in (25), the quantum potential coincides with the hard sphere potential of the “pseudo potential Hamiltonian model” of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation [
16,
17], where
is the boson-boson s-wave scattering length.
By observing that, to fulfill condition (21), we can sufficiently require that
beyond the De Broglie length, it is possible to define the quantum potential range of interaction
as [
7,
13]
where
is a factor that depends on the strength of the Hamiltonian interaction.
Relation (28) provides a measure of the range of interaction associated with the quantum non-local potential beyond the De Broglie length where it fully fluctuates.
It is worth noting that the quantum non-local interaction extends up to a distance on the order of the largest length between and . Below , due to the self-damping of quantum potential fluctuations, even a small quantum potential contributes to the emergence of quantum behavior.
Therefore, quantum non-local effects can be extended either by increasing as a result of lowering the temperature, or by strengthening the Hamiltonian potential, which leads to larger values of .
For instance, by using (22), larger values of can be achieved by extending the linear range of Hamiltonian interaction between particles.
Therefore, in the latter case, when examining phenomena at intermolecular distances where the interaction can be approximated as linear, the behavior exhibits quantum characteristics (e.g., X-ray diffraction from a crystalline lattice). In contrast, at the macroscopic scale, such as in the case of elastic sound waves, whose wavelengths are much larger than both the De Broglie wavelength and the range of the quantum potential, classical behavior emerges.
Finally, it is worth noting that dimensionality can strongly influence the distance over which quantum coherence is maintained. For example, since the form of the Coulomb interaction between charges arises from Gauss’s law and the way field lines spread in space, in D spatial dimensions the flux of the electric field through a hypersphere of radius r must equal the enclosed charge. This determines how the field decays with distance. Accordingly, Coulomb’s law takes different forms in different dimensions: in 3D, in 2D, and in 1D.
As a consequence, the lower the spatial dimension, the stronger the effective Hamiltonian potential interaction, and therefore the longer the quantum coherence length , leading to an enhanced tendency to exhibit macroscopic quantum behavior. The success of high-temperature superconductivity in polymers, with promising prospects for achieving it at room temperature, is fundamentally rooted in their low-unidimensional character of polymer molecules combined with quantum mechanical properties arising from .
2.3. Measurement Process and Decoherence
Throughout the course of quantum measurement, the sensing component within the experimental setup and the system under examination undergo an interaction that can be adequately described by conventional quantum mechanics. This interaction ends when the measuring apparatus is relocated a considerable distance away from the system. Within the SQHM framework, this relocation is subject to precise conditions, as it must exceed the specified distancesand.
Following this relocation, the macroscopic measuring apparatus manages the "interaction output." This typically involves a classical irreversible process, characterized by the time arrow, leading to the determination of the macroscopic measurement result.
Consequently, the GBN noise, at the origin of the lengthsand as well as of the phenomenon of decoherence, assumes a pivotal role in the measurement process. Decoherence facilitates the establishment of a large-scale classical framework, ensuring authentic quantum isolation between the measuring apparatus and the system, both pre and post the measurement event.
This effective realization of the quantum-isolated state of system, both at the initial and final stages, holds paramount significance in determining the temporal duration of the measurement and in collecting statistical data through a series of independent repeated measurements.
It is crucial to underscore that, within the confines of the SQHM, merely relocating the measured system to an infinite distance before and after the measurement, as commonly practiced, falls short in guaranteeing the independence of the system and the measuring apparatus if either or is met. Therefore, the existence of a macroscopic classical reality remains indispensable for the execution of the measurement process in quantum mechanics, and it is not possible to perform a measurement within a perfectly closed quantum universe.
2.3. Minimal Uncertainty and Quantum-to-Classical Transition
The SQHM naturally extends the uncertainty principle to conjugate variables in 4D spacetime subject to curvature fluctuations.
Before proceeding, it is important to clarify that is not the physical temperature of the system but rather a measure related to the mean energy fluctuations of the spacetime GBN.
Only when the quantum coherence of the universe as a whole is broken, and the corresponding De Broglie wavelength has become much smaller than its physical size, can it be considered as divided into classical subsystems. The fluctuation amplitude of these subsystems is then determined by their interaction with the surrounding environment. In this context, the amplitude of energy fluctuations experienced by the system becomes linked to molecular temperature.
2.4. Minimum Measurement Uncertainty in Spacetime with a Fluctuating Background
Any dynamical theory that seeks to describe the evolution of a physical system across different scales and magnitudes must inherently account for the transition from quantum mechanical behavior to the emergent classical phenomena observed at macroscopic levels. The fundamental differences between these two regimes are embodied in the quantum uncertainty principle, which reflects the intrinsic incompatibility of simultaneously measuring conjugate variables. Moreover, quantum entanglement appears fundamentally incompatible with the finite speed of information and interaction propagation in local classical relativistic mechanics.
If a system fully adheres to the principles of quantum mechanics within a certain physical length scale (let's denote it by with ), where its subparts do not possess individual identities, then an independent observer must remain at a distance greater than , both before and after the process, in order to perform a measure on it
Therefore, due to the finite speed of propagation of interactions and information, the process cannot be executed in a time frame shorter than
Furthermore, considering the Gaussian noise in (7) with the diffusion coefficient proportional to
, we find that the mean value of energy fluctuation is
for degree of freedom. As a result, a nonrelativistic scalar structureless particle of mass
m (with
), exhibits an energy variance
such as
from which it follows that
It is noteworthy that the product remains constant, as the increase in energy variance with the square root of precisely offsets the corresponding decrease in the minimum acquisition time . This outcome holds also true when establishing the uncertainty relations between the position and momentum of a particle with mass m.
If we acquire information about the spatial position of a particle with precision
, we effectively exclude the space beyond this distance from the quantum non-local interaction of the particle, and consequently we must require
Moreover, since the variance
of its relativistic momentum
due to the fluctuations reads
the SQHM indeterminacy relation reads
Equating (34) to the quantum uncertainty value, such as
or
we find that the physical length below which the deterministic limit of the SQHM, specifically the quantum mechanics, is realized reads
.
As far as it concerns the
theoretical minimum uncertainty of quantum mechanics, obtainable from the
minimum indeterminacy (35-36) in the limit of
and
, in the non-relativistic limit, we obtain that
and therefore that
It is worth noting that, by accounting for the finite speed of light, the SQHM extends the uncertainty relations to all conjugate variables in four-dimensional spacetime, even though, in standard quantum mechanics, the energy-time uncertainty relation cannot be rigorously defined due to the absence of a time operator.
However, since the energy-time uncertainty principle (41) is fundamental for introducing the concept of virtual particles in quantum field theory, this relation has been formulated in quantum mechanics through the Mandelstam-Tamm time-energy inequality, which is derived from the Robertson uncertainty relation using the generalized Ehrenfest theorem.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that in the relativistic limit of quantum mechanics for
and/or
, given the finite speed of light, the minimum acquisition time of information in the quantum limit
becomes infinite.
The result (43) indicates that performing a measurement in a fully quantum mechanical global system is not feasible, as its duration would be infinite.
Given that quantum non-locality is restricted to domains with physical lengths on the order of , and information contained in a measure cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light (violating the uncertainty principle otherwise), local realism is established within the macroscopic physics where domains of order of reduce to a point.
The paradox of 'spooky action at a distance' is an artifact confined to microscopic scales (smaller than ), and arises in the low-velocity approximation of . This leads to non-relativistic quantum mechanics, which appears to permit instantaneous transmission of interactions across space.
It is also noteworthy that in the presence of noise for
, the measured indeterminacy undergoes a relativistic correction, as expressed by
, resulting in the minimum uncertainty relations
and
that give a significant contribution for light particles (with
) in a high energy quantum fluctuating system.
In summary, within the SQHM framework, minimal uncertainty arises from the combined effects of energy fluctuations due to GBN and the finite speed of information propagation, which together impose a lower bound on the time required for information acquisition.
Furthermore, a relativistic correction to the uncertainty principle, particularly significant for light particles, emerges naturally, indicating that a continuous mass spectrum approaching zero is not physically viable, as it leads to a divergence in uncertainty. This suggests that a discrete mass spectrum, excluding the zero-mass case, is necessary for the establishment of a physically consistent universe.
2.5. Theoretical Validation of SQHM: The Lindemann Constant at the Melting Point of Quantum Lattice
A validation test for the SQHM can be conducted by comparing its theoretical predictions with experimental data on the transition from a quantum solid lattice to a classical amorphous fluid. Specifically, we show that the SQHM can theoretically derive the Lindemann constant at the melting point of a solid lattice, representing the quantum-to-classical transition threshold, something that has remained unexplained within the frameworks of both conventional quantum and classical theories [
18].
For a system of Lennard-Jones interacting particles, the quantum potential range of interaction
reads (25-26, 28)
where
represents the distance up to which the interatomic force is approximately linear, and
denotes the atomic equilibrium distance.
Assuming that, to preserve quantum coherence within the quantum lattice, the atomic wave function (around the equilibrium distance) extends over a distance smaller than the quantum coherence length, the square root of its variance must result smaller than which corresponds to the melting point.
Based on these assumptions, the Lindemann constant
defined at melting point as [
18]
can be expressed as
and it can be theoretically calculated, as
that, being typically at melting point
and
, leads to
2.6. The Fluid-Superfluid 4HE Transition
If the Lindemann constant is derived from a quantum-to-classical transition governed by the strength of the Hamiltonian interaction, which determines the quantum potential interaction length, another validation of the SQHM can be obtained by its predictions on transitions induced by the change of De Broglie physical length such as the 4HE fluid-to-superfluid transition.
Given that the De Broglie distance
is temperature-dependent, it impacts on the fluid-superfluid transition in monomolecular liquids at extremely low temperatures, when it equals the mean molecular distance as observed in
4HE. The approach to this scenario is elaborated in reference [
19], where, for the
4HE -
4HE interaction, the potential well is assumed to be
In this context, represents the Lennard-Jones potential depth, denotes the mean 4He -4He inter-atomic distance where .
As the superfluid transition temperature is attained, the De Broglie length overlaps more and more the
4HE -
4HE wavefunction within the potential depth. Therefore, we observe the gradual increase of
4He superfluid concentration within the interval
A more precise assessment, utilizing the potential well approximation for molecular interaction, results [
18] in
, and yields a value
for the Lindemann constant consistent with measured values, falling within the range of 0.2 to 0.25 [
18].
Therefore, the total superfluid 4He occurs as soon as the De Broglie length covers all the 4He -4He potential well for .
However, for , we have no superfluid 4He.
Therefore, given that
,for
, all pairs of
4He enter the quantum state, the superfluid ratio of 100% is attained at the temperature
where the
4He mass is assumed to be
, consistent with the experimental data
from reference [
20].
When
, the superfluid-to-normal
4He density ratio of 50% is reached at the temperature
in good agreement with the experimental data
measured in reference [
20].
Furthermore, by employing the conventional superfluid ratio of 38% at the
-point of
4He, such that
, the transition temperature
is determined to be
in good agreement with the measured superfluid transition temperature of
[
20].
It is worth noting that there are two ways to establish quantum behavior in a classical reality. One approach involves lowering the temperature, effectively increasing the de Broglie length. The second approach is to strength the Hamiltonian interaction, among the particles, to enhance the quantum potential length of interaction. The latter effect can be achieved practically by increasing the distance over which the Hamiltonian interaction remains linear.
The transition between quantum solids and classical fluids, identified by the Lindemann constant, and the fluid-superfluid transition at extreme low temperatures, provide experimental confirmations of the emerging macroscopic classical behavior as a form of decoherent quantum behavior, affecting the underlying physics of phenomena such as viscosity and lattice properties, including X-ray diffraction and electron conductivity.
From this standpoint, we can conceptualize the classical mechanics as emergent from a self-consistent decoherent outcome of quantum mechanics when fluctuating spacetime reference background is involved.
It is also important to highlight that the limited strength of the Hamiltonian interaction over long distances is the key factor allowing classical macroscopic behavior to manifest.
Moreover, by observing that systems featuring interactions that are weaker than linear interactions are classically chaotic, it follows that the classical chaoticity is widespread characteristic of the classical reality.
To this respect, the strong divergence of chaotic trajectories of motion due to high Lyapunov exponents also contributes to facilitate the destruction of the quantum coherence maintained by the quantum potential by leading to high values of the dissipation parameter in (12).
Finally, it is worth noting that dense matter subjected to strong gravitational potentials, such as in black holes or at the Big Bang, exhibits fully quantum behavior. Consequently, classical behavior can only be attributed to the later, inflated phase of the universe, where gravity tends to follow Newtonian dynamics