Related papers: Wave optics of quantum gravity for massive particl…
Real world quantum systems are open to perpetual influence from the wider environment. Quantum gravitational fluctuations provide a most fundamental source of the environmental influence through their universal interactions with all forms…
This paper considers the effects of gravitational induced uncertainty on some well-known quantum optics issues. First we will show that gravitational effects at quantum level destroy the notion of harmonic oscillations. Then it will be…
The quite different behaviors exhibited by microscopic and macroscopic systems with respect to quantum interferences suggest that there may exist a naturally frontier between quantum and classical worlds. The value of the Planck mass…
We discuss how a background bath of gravitons can induce decoherence of quantum systems. The mechanism is dephasing, the loss of phase coherence due to quantum geometry fluctuations caused by the gravitons. This effect is illustrated in a…
One of the biggest unsolved problems in physics is the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity. The lack of experimental guidance has made the issue extremely evasive, though various attempts have been made to relate the…
One of the biggest problems faced by those attempting to combine quantum theory and general relativity is the experimental inaccessibility of the unification scale. In this paper we show how incoherent conformal waves in the gravitational…
Schemes of gravitationally induced decoherence are being actively investigated as possible mechanisms for the quantum-to-classical transition. Here, we introduce a decoherence process due to quantum gravity effects. We assume a foamy…
We give a first principles derivation of a master equation for the evolution of a quantum matter field in a linearly perturbed Minkowski spacetime, based solely on quantum field theory and general relativity. We make no additional…
Despite the fact that we have some proposals for the quantum theory of gravity like string theory or loop quantum gravity, we do not have any experimental evidence supporting any of these theories. Actually, we do not have experimental…
Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a non-trivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum…
Following up on our recent study, we consider the regime of graviton masses and gravitational wave propagation distances at which decoherence of the wave packets plays a major role for phenomenology. This regime is of particular interest,…
Quantum-gravity effects may introduce relevant consequences for the propagation and interaction of high energy cosmic rays particles. Assuming the space-time foamy structure results in an intrinsic uncertainty of energy and momentum of…
Quantum gravity places entirely new challenges on the formulation of a consistent theory as well as on an extraction of potentially observable effects. Quantum corrections due to the gravitational field are commonly expected to be tiny…
We study the superposition of primordial massive particles and compute the associated decoherence time scale in the radiation dominated universe. We observe that for lighter primordial particles with masses up to $10^7\,\rm{kg}$, the…
Long-lived heavy particles present during the big bang could have a decay channel opened by gravitons. Such decays can produce gravitational waves with large enough abundance to be detectable, and a peculiar narrow spectrum peaked today…
Understanding the interplay between quantum mechanical systems and gravity is a crucial step towards unifying these two fundamental ideas. Recent theoretical developments have explored how global properties of spacetime would cause a…
We discuss the interplay of wave packet decoherence and decoherence induced by quantum gravity via interactions with spacetime foam for high energy astrophysical neutrinos. In this context we point out a compelling consequence of the…
We investigate the interplay between gravity and the quantum coherence present in the state of a pulse of light propagating in curved spacetime. We first introduce an operational way to distinguish between the overall shift in the pulse…
We discuss the quantum mechanical description of a gravitational wave interacting with a cavity electromagnetic field. Quantum fluctuations of the gravitational vacuum induce squeezing in the optical field. Moreover, this squeezing…
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…