Experimental QG Search talks (what does the Stockholm lineup tell us?)

[marcus]

Can we learn anything about the status of QG phenomenology by checking out the abstracts for the July talks?

Bee Hossenfelder, who occasionally posts here, has organized a conference, set for 12-16 July, on Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity.

Just as a side comment: a lot of conferences they don't even post the list of speakers, or the titles of the talks, a month in advance. In marked contrast, this conference has already had the speakers, the participants, the talks listed for some time, well over a month ahead, and even posted some abstracts. From an amateur observer standpoint like mine, it bespeaks efficient organization. Also the lineup of speakers is ecumenical.
They represent a lot of different approaches to QG (including the stringy spacetime foam of Mavromatos) and a remarkable variety of ideas about ways to test them.

I was mildly surprised not to see the names of Aurelien Barrau, Julien Grain, Jakub Mielczarek, or Seth Major among the participants. But that could be for any number of reasons. Overall the turnout and variety, and so to speak the depth, of the program is impressive. It is far more substantial than one might have expected with such a new field as empirical QG search. Many people still think of "observational QG" as a contradiction in terms.

In any case, I will copy here the list of talks to make it convenient to assess, and we can try to get an idea of how things are shaping up. The abstracts, some quite long and detailed, are here:
http://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~hossi/ESQG10/abstracts.html

 

[marcus]

All talks are in 45-minute format with 30 for presentation and 15 for discussion.

Monday, July 12th

9:45 REGISTRATION
10:00 Hossenfelder, Sabine Opening/Organizational Stuff
10:15 Wagner, Robert Exploring quantum gravity with VHE γ-ray telescopes:status, prospects and limitations
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:15 Magueijo, Joao A quantum gravity foundation for inflation? Sleeping with the enemy
12:00 LUNCH
14:00 Calmet, Xavier Unitarity in Quantum Gravity and Models of Particle Physics
14:45 Sakellariadou,Mairi Noncommutative Geometry as framework for Unification: Introduction and cosmological consequences
15:30 COFFEE BREAK
15:45 Christian, Joy Probing the Planck Scale with Cosmic Neutrinos
16:30 Alexander, Stephon Quantum Gravity Phenomenology, Neutrino Oscillations and Dark Energy
17:30 RECEPTION

Tuesday, July 13th

10:15 Bambi, Cosimo Search for quantum gravity effects in astrophysical compact objects
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:15 Collins, Hael The subtleties of a quantum field in an inflationary universe
12:00 LUNCH
14:00 Sudarsky, Daniel Phenomenology of a Lorentz-respecting space-time granularity
14:45 Kent, Adrian Testing the (Non)locality of the Gravitational Field
15:30 COFFEE BREAK
15:45 Kelley, John Searching for Quantum Gravity with High-energy Neutrinos
16:30 Discussion: What to sacrifice?
Moderation: Claus Lämmerzahl
Panelists: Xavier Calmet, Domenico Giulini, Stephon Alexander

Wednesday, July 14th

10:15 Roura, Albert Quantum light-cone fluctuations: probing quantum metric fluctuations with massless fields
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:15 Amelino-Camelia, Giovanni Quantum-gravity phenomenology and deformations of spacetime symmetries
12:00 LUNCH
14:00 Liberati, Stefano Emergent gravity phenomenology
14:45 Dowker, Fay Polarization Diffusion from Spacetime Uncertainty
15:30 COFFEE BREAK
15:45 Smolin, Lee On the issue of non-locality in deformed special relativity
16:30 Discussion: Experiments and Thought Experiments
Moderation: Amit Hagar
Panelists: Joy Christian, Lee Smolin, ...

Thursday, July 15th

10:15 Mavromatos, Nick Naturalness, Planck scale, quantum-gravity induced refractive indices and the GRB 090510 results
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:15 Troja, Eleonora Precursor activity in short duration GRBs
12:00 LUNCH
14:00 Cavaglia, Marco Hunting for black holes at the LHC
14:45 Rizzo, Thomas Testing Gravity at Colliders
15:30 COFFEE BREAK
15:45 Landsberg, Greg Vanishing Dimensions and Planar Events at the LHC
16:30 Discussion: The Future of Particle Physics
Moderation: Greg Landsberg
Panelists: Marco Cavaglia, Thomas Rizzo, Brian Keating
18:00 BBQ The BBQ will take place in front of the institute.

Friday, July 16th

10:15 Hofmann, Stefan Massive Cosmological Gravitons
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:15 Keating, Brian Experimental Quantum Gravity with the BICEP CMB Polarimeter
12:00 LUNCH
14:00 Bojowald, Martin LQGD(S)R: On the low-energy implications of loop quantum gravity
14:45 Closing

I didn't realize that it was possible to have a BBQ in Sweden, where the meat-smoke might exceed environmental limits and there are so many vegetarian joggers. On second thought, one can make a very good TOFU barbecue if one ensures the tofu is fresh and marinates it properly before it goes on the grill.

 

[Fra]

I didn't realize that it was possible to have a BBQ in Sweden, where the meat-smoke might exceed environmental limits and there are so many vegetarian joggers. On second thought, one can make a very good TOFU barbecue if one ensures the tofu is fresh and marinates it properly before it goes on the grill.

Interesting reputation we have It's not quite that bad though, but not close from it. The weirdest thing I've heard is a request I got some time ago for measuring the EMG/contractions of the uterus during birth, and the sole purpose was that the N2O given to the women should be constraine to exactly at contractions (and not in between) - all to reduce the N20 emissions! After all N2O is a far more specific potent greenhouse gas than CO2 :)

/Fredrik

 

[marcus]

The ESQG 2 conference started today. Bee says that the talks and discussions are being recorded and will be posted online afterwards.

The first Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity conference was in 2007, at Perimeter.
For comparison, or just in case anyone is curious, here is the schedule:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Experimental_Search_for_Quantum_Gravity/Schedule/
Here are the ESQG 1 (2007) videos and links to the PDF slides:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Events/Experimental_Search_for_Quantum_Gravity/View_Experimental_Lectures/

The schedule for ESQG 2 (2010) has been changed around some since the last time I looked. I will give the links again, for convenience. Of course the idea of "experimental" search includes astrophysical observation---not only lab experiment. What is significant, for me, is that---given how tough QG is to observe---there is enough going on in the observational QG field for Bee to organize a successful conference.

http://prime-spot.de/ESQG10/program.html
http://prime-spot.de/ESQG10/abstracts.html

From the looks of it, already two successful conferences. "hostess with the mostest..."

Blog: http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2010/07/esqg-2010-finally-here.html