Related papers: Is the Planck Momentum Attainable?
The inability to achieve in the present universe, via electromagnetic or gravitational acceleration, Planck energies for elementary particles is suggested on the basis of several, some relatively sophisticated, failed attempts. This failure…
According to the commonly accepted interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, it is only possible to talk about the existence of elementary particles when they are detected by an experiment or by a classical measurement device. This has led to…
We review astrophysical, cosmological and terrestrial evidence for and against the constancy of fundamental parameters of particle physics, and discuss theoretical issues of unification and scalar-mediated forces, finding that the current…
Modern data is showing increasing evidence that the Universe is accelerating. So far, all attempts to account for the acceleration have required some fundamental dimensionless quantities to be extremely small. We show how a class of scalar…
A succinct statement and justification of all the principles necessary to understand and evaluate interpretations of quantum mechanics is given. These principles provide strong constraints on interpretations. They imply the particle-like…
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.…
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…
The claim that at the so-called Planck scale our current physics breaks down and a new theory of quantum gravity is required is ubiquitous, but the evidence is shakier than the confidence of those assertions warrants. In this paper, I…
Based on the ultraviolet asymptotic freedom of nonlocal quantum gravity, we show that the trans-Planckian energy regime is unattainable in laboratory experiments. As physical implications, it turns out that the violation of causality,…
Observable quantities in cosmology are dimensionless, and therefore independent of the units in which they are measured. This is true of all physical quantities associated with the primordial perturbations that source cosmic microwave…
Planck scale physics represents a future challenge, located between particle physics and general relativity. The Planck scale marks a threshold beyond which the old description of spacetime breaks down and conceptually new phenomena must…
Planck scale physics represents a future challenge, located between particle physics and general relativity. The Planck scale marks a threshold beyond which the old description of spacetime breaks down and conceptually new phenomena must…
It is shown here that a dynamical Planck mass can drive the scale factor of the universe to accelerate. The negative pressure which drives the cosmic acceleration is identified with the unusual kinetic energy density of the Planck field. No…
Particle acceleration at non-relativistic shocks can be very efficient, leading to the appearance of non-linear effects due to the dynamical reaction of the accelerated particles on the shock structure and to the non-linear amplification of…
I discuss an upper bound on the boost and the energy of elementary particles. The limit is derived utilizing the core principle of relativistic quantum mechanics stating that there is a lower bound for localization of an elementary quantum…
It has been suggested that the uncertainty in the measurement of a particle's momentum could be made arbitrarily small by observing the particle at two ends of an arbitrarily long flight path. However, consideration of the nature of the…
We review the arguments supporting the existence of a maximal acceleration for a massive particle and show that different values of this upper limit can be predicted in different physical situations.
I will discuss the recent LHC and Planck results, which are completely compatible with the Standard Model of particle physics, and the standard cosmological model ($\Lambda$CDM), respectively. It turns out that the extension of the Standard…
A quantum mechanical upper limit on the value of particle accelerations is consistent with the behavior of a class of superconductors and well known particle decay rates. It also sets limits on the mass of the Higgs boson and affects the…
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…