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  • Open Access

Decoherence of spatial superpositions along stationary worldlines

Clemens Jakubec1,*, Aaron Bartleson2,3,†, Peter W. Milonni4,‡, and Kanu Sinha2,3,§

  • *Contact author: clemens.jakubec@tuwien.ac.at
  • †Contact author: abartleson@arizona.edu
  • ‡Contact author: peter_milonni@comcast.net
  • §Contact author: kanu@arizona.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 105004 – Published 4 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dm74-blpj

Abstract

We analyze the decoherence of a particle’s spatial superposition moving along a stationary worldline through the Minkowski vacuum. The particle is modeled via an internal degree of freedom that couples to a scalar field, and an external degree of freedom, i.e., its quantized center-of-mass motion around the stationary worldline. Assuming a separation of timescales between the particle’s internal and external dynamics, we first obtain an effective redshifted polarizability of the particle, characterizing the trajectory-dependent linear response of the internal oscillator to the field. We then derive a quantum Brownian motion master equation for the particle’s center of mass, under the Born-Markov approximation, which describes its decoherence in the position basis, as well as Hamiltonian modifications corresponding to a dispersive potential. The resulting decoherence has two components: (1) arising from a modified field spectrum observed by the particle; and (2) due to a differential time dilation over the particle’s extended spatial wave function. For stationary trajectories, both contributions take an effectively thermal form. We evaluate the decoherence rates for two specific cases, hyperbolic and uniform circular motion.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 105004– Published 4 November, 2026
  • Received 27 May 2026
  • Accepted 2 October 2026
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