Related papers: Probing Planck-scale physics with quantum optics
After a brief review of the first phase of development of Quantum-Gravity Phenomenology, I argue that this research line is now ready to enter a more advanced phase: while at first it was legitimate to resort to heuristic order-of-magnitude…
The search for a quantum theory of gravity has been one of the main aims of theoretical physics for many years by now. However the efforts in this direction have been often hampered by the lack of experimental/observational tests able to…
We set up a covariant renormalisation group equation on a foliated spacetime which preserves background diffeomorphism symmetry. As a first application of the new formalism, we study the effect of quantum fluctuations in Lorentz symmetry…
We highlight the fact that the lack of scale invariance in the gravitational field equations of General Relativity results from the underlying assumption that the appropriate scale for the gravitational force should be linked to the atomic…
A fundamental spacetime scale in the universe leads to noncommutative spacetime and thence to a modified energy - momentum dispersion relation or equivalently to a modification of Lorentz symmetry as shown by the author and others. This…
We examine a simple tabletop experimental setup for probing the inverse-square law of gravity and detecting eventual deviations therefrom. The nature of the setup allows indeed to effectively reach for shorter distances compared to what is…
General relativity and quantum mechanics are incompatible at the Planck scale. This contention can be examined if a quantum computer is set to operate at a rate that exceeds the classical limit of one operation per Planck volume-time, or…
Small violations of spacetime symmetries have recently been identified as promising Planck-scale signals. This talk reviews how such violations can arise in various approaches to quantum gravity, how the emergent low-energy effects can be…
We investigate the effects of Quantum Gravity on the Planck era of the universe. In particular, using different versions of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle and under specific conditions we find that the main Planck quantities such as…
The relevance of the Planck scale to a theory of quantum gravity has become a worryingly little examined assumption that goes unchallenged in the majority of research in this area. However, in all scientific honesty, the significance of…
We critically analyse and compare various recent thought experiments, performed by Amelino-Camelia, Ng et al., Baez et al., Adler et al., and ourselves, concerning the (thought)experimental accessibility of the Planck scale by space-time…
Each approach to the quantum-gravity problem originates from expertise in one or another area of theoretical physics. The particle-physics perspective encourages one to attempt to reproduce in quantum gravity as much as possible of the…
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…
In his sixth problem, Hilbert called for an axiomatic approach to theoretical physics with an aim to achieve precision and rigour in scientific reasoning, where logic and language (semantics) of physics play the pivotal role. It is from…
Quantum gravity phenomenology has been historically regarded as a difficult endeavour, due to the apparent scarcity of phenomena involving the required scales of length (Planck length $l_P$) and energy (Planck energy $E_P$). It was…
An open question in experimental physics is the characterization of gravitational effects in quantum regimes. We propose an experimental set-up that uses well-tested techniques in cavity optomechanics to observe the effects of the…
Using a \emph{gedanken} experiment providing presumably a minimal inaccuracy the uncertainty contributions to the space-time measurement are precisely evaluated for clock and mirror respectively. The resulting expression of minimal…
We propose uncertainty relations for the different coordinates of spacetime events, motivated by Heisenberg's principle and by Einstein's theory of classical gravity. A model of Quantum Spacetime is then discussed where the commutation…
Phenomenological approaches to quantum gravity try to infer model-independent laws by analyzing thought experiments and combining both quantum, relativistic, and gravitational ingredients. We first review these ingredients -three basic…
A major challenge at the interface of quantum gravity and cosmology is to explain the emergence of the large-scale structure of the Universe from Planck scale physics. In this letter, we extract the dynamics of scalar isotropic cosmological…