Related papers: Probing Planck-scale physics with quantum optics

A handful of recent papers has been devoted to proposals of experiments capable of testing some candidate quantum-gravity phenomena. These lecture notes emphasize those aspects that are most relevant to the questions that come to mind when…

Phenomenological models aiming to join gravity and quantum mechanics often predict effects that are potentially measurable in refined low-energy experiments. For instance, modified commutation relations between position and momentum, that…

The fundamental physical description of Nature is based on two mutually incompatible theories: Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity. Their unification in a theory of Quantum Gravity (QG) remains one of the main challenges of theoretical…

We investigate possible signatures of quantum gravity which could be tested with current and future gravitational-wave (GW) observations. In particular, we analyze how quantum gravity can influence the GW luminosity distance, the time…

The possibility of long-baseline quantum experiments in space makes it necessary to better understand the time evolution of relativistic quantum particles in a weakly varying gravitational field. We explain why conventional treatments by…

An interesting idea, dating back to Feynman, argues that quantum mechanics may break down for large masses if one entertains the possibility that gravity can be "classical", thereby leading to predictions different from conventional…

We emphasize that a specific aspect of quantum gravity is the absence of a super-selection rule that prevents a linear superposition of different gravitational charges. As an immediate consequence, we obtain a tiny, but observable,…

In the recent quantum-gravity literature there has been strong interest in the possibility of Planck-scale departures from Lorentz symmetry, including possible modifications of the energy/momentum dispersion relation. I stress that a…

A satisfactory theory of quantum gravity will very likely require modification of our classical perception of space-time, perhaps by giving it a 'foamy' structure at scales of order the Planck length. This is expected to modify the…

I briefly review some scenarios for the role of the Planck length in quantum gravity. In particular, I examine the differences between the schemes in which quantum gravity is expected to introduce a maximum acceleration and the schemes in…

It is well known that, due to the uncertainty principle, the Planck constant sets a resolution boundary in phase space and the resulting trade-off in resolution between incompatible measurements has been thoroughly investigated. It is also…

Several theories that attempt to unify quantum theory and gravitational theory assume that space has an observable limiting resolution related to the Planck length, denoted by $\sqrt{\beta_0}L_p$. Quantum mechanically, this concept derives…

Getting signatures of quantum gravity is one of the topical lines of research in modern theoretical physics and cosmology. This short review faces this challenge under a novel perspective. Instead of separating quantum-gravity effects of a…

The traditional view from particle physics is that quantum gravity effects should only become detectable at extremely high energies and small length scales. Due to the significant technological challenges involved, there has been limited…

We show that an unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity implies that there is a fundamental length in Nature in the sense that no operational procedure would be able to measure distances shorter than the Planck length.…

The problem of finding the quantum theory of the gravitational field, and thus understanding what is quantum spacetime, is still open. One of the most active of the current approaches is loop quantum gravity. Loop quantum gravity is a…

This author's recent proposal of interferometric tests of Planck-scale-related properties of space-time is here revisited from a strictly phenomenological viewpoint. The results announced previously are rederived using elementary…

This essay argues that when measurement processes involve energies of the order of the Planck scale, the fundamental assumption of locality may no longer be a good approximation. Idealized position measurements of two distinguishable…

Observational missions have provided us with a reliable model of the evolution of the universe starting from the last scattering surface all the way to future infinity. Furthermore given a specific model of inflation, using quantum field…

Usual quantum mechanics requires a fixed, background, spacetime geometry and its associated causal structure. A generalization of the usual theory may therefore be needed at the Planck scale for quantum theories of gravity in which…