Quantum gravitational decoherence from Generalized Uncertainty Principle with stochastic deformation parameter.

Several theories of quantum gravity propose the existence of a minimal measurable length and maximum measurable momentum near the Planck scale. When integrated into the framework of quantum mechanics, such restrictions lead to the generalization of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which is commonly referred to as the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). The GUP has been applied to a plethora of physical models in order to provide further insights on our understanding of the Universe, both in the macroscopic and the microscopic regime. Nevertheless, the corrections related to GUP are expected to be extremely small, which thus renders experimental verification a difficult task. Therefore, phenomenological approaches on a qualitative level are typically addressed with the aim of enhancing our possibility of detecting these tiny effects. Motivated by a recent work on a universal decoherence mechanism stemming from the standard formulation of GUP, we extend the ideas contained therein by considering a more general form of GUP which includes linear and quadratic momentum terms to examine its implications. To achieve such a picture, we equip the deformation parameter appearing in front of all momentum terms with a stochastic nature, so that the effective decoherence mechanism emerges by taking the average over fluctuations. We find that, despite the apparently small differences among the two generalizations of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the consequences at the level of the universal decoherence mechanism they entail is significant, as they predict decoherence times that are completely uncorrelated and distinct.