English

Indirect Probe of Quantum Gravity using Molecular Wave-packets

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2019-10-16 v3 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

The most obvious obstacle behind a direct test of Quantum Gravity (QG) is its energy scale (101910^{19} GeV), which remains well outside of any human made machine. The next best possible approach is to provide indirect tests on effective theories of QG which can be performed in a lower energy scale. This paper is aimed in this direction, and shows a promising path to test the existence of the fundamental minimal length scale of Nature by measuring the dispersion of free, large molecular wave-packets. The existence of the minimal length is believed to be the reason for a modified commutation relationship between the position and momentum operators and, in this paper, we show that such a modification of the commutator has a profound effect on the dispersion rate of free wave-packets, and precise measurement on the broadening times of large molecular wave-packets (such as C60C_{60}, C176C_{176} and large organic molecules) provide a promising path for an indirect test of quantum gravity, in a laboratory setting.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1901.09696,
  title  = {Indirect Probe of Quantum Gravity using Molecular Wave-packets},
  author = {Carlos Villalpando and Sujoy K. Modak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.09696},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

13 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Class. Quant. Grav

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:24:05.417Z