Correlations and signaling in the Schrödinger-Newton model

Abstract: The Schr\"odinger--Newton model is a semi-classical theory in which, in addition to mutual attraction, massive quantum particles interact with their own gravitational fields. While there are many studies on the phenomenology of single particles, correlation dynamics in multipartite systems is largely unexplored. Here, we show that the Schr\"odinger--Newton interactions preserve the product form of the initial state of a many-body system, yet on average agreeing with classical mechanics of continuous mass distributions. This leads to a simple test of the model, based on verifying bipartite gravitational evolution towards non-product states. We show using standard quantum mechanics that, with currently accessible single-particle parameters, two masses released from harmonic traps get correlated well before any observable entanglement is accumulated. Therefore, the Schr\"odinger--Newton model can be tested with setups aimed at observation of gravitational entanglement with significantly relaxed requirements on coherence time. We also present a mixed-state extension of the model that avoids superluminal signaling.