Related papers: Photons with sub-Planckian Energy Cannot Efficient…
We present a method of directly testing whether time continues to have its usual meaning on scales of <= t_P = sqrt(hbar G/c^5) ~ 5.4E-44 s, the Planck time. According to quantum gravity, the time t of an event cannot be determined more…
We give a vacuum description with zero-point density for virtual fluctuations. One of the goals is to explain the origin of the vacuum permittivity and permeability and to calculate their values. In particular, we improve on existing…
The propagation length of high-energy photons through the Universe is limited by $e^+e^-$ pair production on the extragalactic background radiation. Previous studies reported discrepancies between predicted and observed attenuation,…
The space-time metric is widely believed to be subject to stochastic fluctuations induced by quantum gravity at the Planck scale. This work is based on two different phenomenological approaches being currently made to this topic, and…
Several approaches to the quantum-gravity problem predict that spacetime should be "fuzzy", but have been so far unable to provide a crisp physical characterization of this notion. An intuitive picture of spacetime fuzziness has been…
In this work we consider lightcone fluctuation effects in a five-dimensional spacetime arising as a consequence of the compactification of the extra dimension via a quasiperiodic condition, characterized by a phase angle $2\pi\alpha$. By…
Quantum fluctuations impose fundamental limits on measurement and space-time probing. Although using optimised probe fields can allow to push sensitivity in a position measurement beyond the "standard quantum limit", quantum fluctuations of…
We review a few topics in Planck-scale physics, with emphasis on possible manifestations in relatively low energy. The selected topics include quantum fluctuations of spacetime, their cumulative effects, uncertainties in energy-momentum…
A model of Lorentz invariant random fluctuations in photon polarization is presented. The effects are frequency dependent and affect the polarization of photons as they propagate through space. We test for this effect by confronting the…
An interesting test of Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) relies on the observed lag in arrival times of photons emitted from extragalactic transient sources. Attributing the lag between photons of different energies to the…
We treat the effects of compactified spatial dimensions on the propagation of light in the uncompactified directions in the context of linearized quantum gravity. We find that the flight times of pulses can fluctuate due to modification of…
It is not possible to detect a vacuum fluctuation without a test particle interacting with the vacuum fluctuation in a measurable manner. In the quantum electrodynamics calculation presented here, a photon traveling through the vacuum is…
A broad variety of light sources exhibit photon-count fluctuations that display inverse-square spectral behavior at extremely low frequencies. These sources include light-emitting diodes, superluminescent diodes, laser diodes, incandescent…
Many quantum gravity theories imply that the vacuum is filled with virtual black holes. This paper explores the process in which high energy photons interact with virtual black holes and decay into gravitons and photons of lower energy. The…
Electromagnetic sources, as e.g. lasers, antennas, diffusers or thermal sources, produce a wavefield that interacts with objects to transfer them its momentum. We show that the photonic force exerted on a small particle in the near field of…
The method of photon distribution function (PDF) is used to study fluctuations of light beams propagating through a turbulent atmosphere. Our analysis concerns the regime of saturated fluctuations. The focus is on the phenomena of beam…
One of the most common expectations of a quantum theory of gravity is that space-time is uncertain or fluctuating at microscopic scales, making it a stochastic medium for particle propagation. Particles traversing this space-time may…
Due to quantum fluctuations, spacetime is probably ``foamy'' on very small scales. We propose to detect this texture of spacetime foam by looking for core-halo structures in the images of distant quasars. We find that the Very Large…
A semiclassical kinetic theory is presented for the fluctuating photon flux emitted by a disordered medium in thermal equilibrium. The kinetic equation is the optical analog of the Boltzmann-Langevin equation for electrons. Vacuum…
Due to quantum fluctuations, spacetime is foamy on small scales. For maximum spatial resolution of the geometry of spacetime, the holographic model of spacetime foam stipulates that the uncertainty or fluctuation of distance $l$ is given,…