What Experiments Are Being Discussed for Quantum Gravity Phenomenology?

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on the exploration of experimental detection methods for quantum gravity (QG) effects, as highlighted by Sabine Hossenfelder and George Musser. Hossenfelder references Musser's assertion that quantum gravity and experimental approaches are inherently compatible, akin to "peanut butter and chocolate." Notable examples of proposed experiments include those discussed by the Vienna group led by C. Brukner, particularly their work published in Nature Communications in October 2011. The discussion emphasizes the interconnectedness of general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM) in experimental setups, such as interferometry influenced by Earth's gravitational field.

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marcus
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Sabine Hossenfelder recently wrote a blog post containing this parenthetical remark:
"(I had meant to write a summary of which possible experiments for quantum gravity pheno are presently being discussed and how plausible I think they are to deliver results, but I got distracted by Dyson’s above mentioned paper on graviton detection. The summary will follow some other time.)"

Sabine's 6 June 2013 post:
http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2013/06/quantum-gravity-phenomenology-neq.html

The issue of experimental detection of QG effects (in experiments that involve both GR and QM in some essential interconnected way, e.g. Earth gravitational field and interferometry) is an interesting one. In her 6 June post, Sabine quotes George Musser to the effect that

“[Q]uantum gravity” and “experiment” are… like peanut butter and chocolate. They actually go together quite tastily.

That was from George Musser's SciAm blog post, "Could simple experiments...?"
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com...ments-reveal-the-quantum-nature-of-spacetime/

As examples of a possible experiments Musser talks about some work published in Nature Communications (October 2011) by the Vienna group of C. Brukner. The Nature article is free online and, though technical in parts, was written to be fairly widely understood:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n10/pdf/ncomms1498.pdf?WT.ec_id=NCOMMS-20111018

The Brukner group co-authors also have a more pictorial/intuitive discussion of their proposals here:
"Quantum Complementarity Meets Gravitational Redshift"
http://www.2physics.com/2012/01/quantum-complementarity-meets.html
 
Last edited:
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Thanks marcus, interesting reading again! The experimental optimism is refreshing :smile:.
 

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