Related papers: Testing gravity with neutrinos: from classical to …
Quantization of the gravity remains one of the most important, yet extremely illusive, challenges at the heart of modern physics. Any attempt to resolve this long-standing problem seems to be doomed, as the route to any direct empirical…
The confrontation between Einstein's gravitation theory and experimental results, notably binary pulsar data, is summarized and its significance discussed. Experiment and theory agree at the 10^{-3} level. All the basic structures of…
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…
A scenario is outlined for quantum measurement, assuming that self-sustaining classicality is the consequence of an attractive gravitational self-interaction acting on massive bodies, and randomness arises already in the classical domain. A…
The possibility off measuring for the first time neutrino-nuclei coherent scattering has been recently discussed by several experimental collaborations. It is shown that such a measurement may be very sensitive to non-standard interactions…
Pulsars of very different types - isolated objects, and binaries with short- and long-period orbits, white-dwarf and neutron-star companions - provide the means to test both the predictions of general relativity and the viability of…
Assuming the validity of the equivalence principle in the quantum regime, we argue that one of the assumptions of the usual definition of quantum mechanics, namely separation between the ``classical'' detector and the ``quantum'' system,…
The Standard Model has been effective way beyond expectations in foreseeing the result of almost all the experimental tests done up so far. In it, neutrinos are massless. Nonetheless, in recent years we have collected solid proofs…
We show that a breakdown of the universality of the gravitational couplings to different neutrino flavors can be tested in long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiments. In particular we have analyzed in detail a proposed experiment at…
There are profound connections between neutrino physics and nuclear experiments. Exceptionally precise measurements of single and double beta-decay spectra illuminate the scale and nature of neutrino mass and may finally answer the question…
The favored classical variables that are promoted to quantum operators are divided into three sets that feature constant positive curvatures, constant zero curvatures, as well as constant negative curvatures. This list covers the spin…
At the beginning of the previous century, Newtonian mechanics fell victim to two new revolutionary theories, Quantum Mechanics (QM) and General Relativity (GR). Both theories have transformed our view of physical phenomena, with QM…
Quantum General Relativity (QGR), sometimes called Loop Quantum Gravity, has matured over the past fifteen years to a mathematically rigorous candidate quantum field theory of the gravitational field. The features that distinguish it from…
It is pointed out that the Diosi-Penrose ansatz for gravity-induced quantum state reduction can be tested by observing oscillations in the flavor ratios of neutrinos originated at cosmological distances. Since such a test would be almost…
We study the transition between quantum and classical behavior of particles in a gravitational quantum well. We analyze how an increase in the particles mass turns the energy spectrum into a continuous one, from an experimental point of…
Quantum gravity is known to be mostly a kind of metaphysical speculation. In this brief essay, we try to argue that, although still extremely difficult to reach, observational signatures can in fact be expected. The early universe is an…
General relativity successfully describes space-times at scales that we can observe and probe today, but it cannot be complete as a consequence of singularity theorems. For a long time there have been indications that quantum gravity will…
A general overview of neutrino physics is given. The history of the neutrino starting from Pauli and Fermi is briefly presented. Two-component neutrinos, the phenomenological V-A theory and the standard model are discussed. The problem of…
There is a long-standing debate about whether gravity should be quantised. A powerful line of argument in favour of quantum gravity considers models of hybrid systems consisting of coupled quantum-classical sectors. The conclusion is that…
The topics discussed in this lecture include: general properties of neutrinos in the SM, the theory of neutrino masses and mixings (Dirac and Majorana), neutrino oscillations both in vacuum and in matter, an overview of the experimental…