Probing Planck-scale Physics with Extragalactic Sources?
Astrophysics
2009-11-07 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
Abstract
At Planck-scale, spacetime is "foamy" due to quantum fluctuations predicted by quantum gravity. Here we consider the possibility of using spacetime foam-induced phase incoherence of light from distant galaxies and gamma-ray bursters to probe Planck-scale physics. In particular, we examine the cumulative effects of spacetime fluctuations over a huge distance. Our analysis shows that they are far below what is required in this approach to shed light on the foaminess of spacetime.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0302372,
title = {Probing Planck-scale Physics with Extragalactic Sources?},
author = {Y. Jack Ng and W. A. Christiansen and H. van Dam},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0302372},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Minor changes; this version will appear in ApJ Letters