Observer Systems and the Density Ceiling: A Computed Bound on Coherent Laboratory Mass

This paper computes the largest laboratory mass that can remain coherent for one second under gravitational decoherence estimates, as a concrete form of the observer problem in measurement theory. The mass at which the Diósi–Penrose time falls to one second, for ordinary condensed-matter density, is 1.000e-12 kilograms. A mass of 1e-12 kilograms already decoheres in 9.802e-06 seconds and a mass of 1e-09 kilograms in 9.802e-11 seconds in this estimate. The density ceiling itself is never approached at laboratory densities; the operative limitation on coherent observers and memories is gravitational decoherence scaling, not the ceiling. Wigner-friend scenarios with macroscopic coherent laboratories therefore face a quantified timescale obstacle in this model. The study is simulated and computed from stated assumptions; it is not a measurement.

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Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-11-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24145406
Primary Topic
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Observer Systems and the Density Ceiling: A Computed Bound on Coherent Laboratory Mass

William Alexander Aldred
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
article

Observer Systems and the Density Ceiling: A Computed Bound on Coherent Laboratory Mass

William Alexander Aldred
article en

Abstract

This paper computes the largest laboratory mass that can remain coherent for one second under gravitational decoherence estimates, as a concrete form of the observer problem in measurement theory. The mass at which the Diósi–Penrose time falls to one second, for ordinary condensed-matter density, is 1.000e-12 kilograms. A mass of 1e-12 kilograms already decoheres in 9.802e-06 seconds and a mass of 1e-09 kilograms in 9.802e-11 seconds in this estimate. The density ceiling itself is never approached at laboratory densities; the operative limitation on coherent observers and memories is gravitational decoherence scaling, not the ceiling. Wigner-friend scenarios with macroscopic coherent laboratories therefore face a quantified timescale obstacle in this model. The study is simulated and computed from stated assumptions; it is not a measurement.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
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