An Energy Puzzle in Quantum Collapse

Abstract: Since its discovery, quantum theory has proven to be one of the most precise theories ever made. Measurement processes, however, do not seem to be governed by the unitary law of quantum mechanics, and one can ask if the theory is complete. To answer this question, new experiments must be done regarding the nature of quantum measurements. Here, we propose a direct consequence of projective measurements, leading to three possibilities. An arbitrarily high amount of energy can be either extracted or absorbed, or else energy conservation cannot be accounted by usual arguments based upon standard quantum mechanics.